The Thai Pilots Association submitted a letter to the Labour and Transport ministries yesterday requesting a revision of the cabinet's approval of foreign pilots being allowed to fly domestic routes via wet lease contracts.
Last week, the cabinet approved a temporary measure allowing foreign pilots to fly domestic routes for six months, aiming to combat a commercial pilot shortage amid a tourism boom.
Teerawat Angkasakulkiat, president of the association, said this measure conflicts with the law, as pilot is a prohibited occupation for foreigners, while there is not a pilot shortage.
According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand, there were 3,024 commercial pilots in 2023.
Roughly 1,026 pilots were laid off during the pandemic, while 1,219 pilot school graduates hold a commercial pilot licence and are awaiting airline jobs, noted the authority.
Mr Teerawat said the approval does not comply with the 20-year national strategy for the labour sector, particularly the five-year portion from 2023 to 2027 that covers future industries and the service sector.
Allowing foreign pilots to operate Airbus A320 aircrafts, in which Thai pilots are highly skilled, would impact domestic job opportunities, he said.
Younger workers will likely choose occupations other than pilot that have more job security, said Mr Teerawat.
If airlines continue to operate via temporary wet lease agreements annually, it would undeniably affect the pilot job market and Thailand would lose its aviation competitiveness, he said.
This may also affect related industries, such as provoking foreigners to operate drones in the agricultural sector, said Mr Teerawat.
A wet lease refers to a leasing arrangement where one airline provides an aircraft, complete crew, maintenance and insurance to another airline.
The association is urging the Transport Ministry to bar Thai airlines from leasing aircraft from other airlines via wet lease contracts, unless the related regulation is upgraded to meet international standards.
Some local airlines want wet leases based on Section 33/1 of the Thailand Air Navigation Act, but some portions of this law do not conform with the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program.
Thailand is not an official party to Article 83bis of the Chicago Convention, which allows the state of registry to transfer supervisory responsibilities for an aircraft to the state of the operator.
This issue raises concerns about meeting international safety standards, meaning Thailand risks another red flag by ICAO, as happened in 2015, said Mr Teerawat.
ICAO is scheduled to audit Thailand's operations in the third quarter next year.