Thai P.M. Prayuth Chan-ocha at the ASEAN summit in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, November 13, 2014. Paula Bronstein/Getty Images
On Monday, Thai officials said that they will use special powers under junta rule to “urgently” improve airline safety. China, South Korea, and Japan stopped Thai airlines from flying charter flights and new routes because of “significant safety concerns” highlighted by an International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) audit in January.
Thailand is very dependent on tourism, which accounts for over 10% of its GDP, and the bans are disrupting the April-May peak travel season around the Thai new year. About 100 charter flights to Japan alone have been canceled and roughly 30,000 tickets have been refunded or modified. In total some 150,000 passengers will be affected during the high season as airlines including Thai AirAsia X (a joint venture with Malaysia’s low-cost carrier AirAsia), Nokscoot, and Asia Atlantic Airline cancel extra planned flights. “We have to accept that we are losing revenue from this, I am serious about solving the problem,” junta leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha said.
The ICAO first raised concerns about Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and the airline industry in 2005. Prayuth noted that Thai aviation officials had persistently raised problems but politicians had not solved them. The country’s air traffic increased to 600,000 flights a year, but there are only 12 DCA officers responsible for the flights.
Thailand’s military rule will be an advantage in that changes could be decided upon and implemented quickly, without the need for slow legislative approvals. Prayuth said he will use powers written into law after he seized power to establish a panel that will speed up a restructuring of the industry and change laws and budget allocations. A reform plan over a two-year period was sent by the DCA on March 2 but was rejected by the ICAO for taking too much time. Now, using the dictatorial powers allowed by article 44 of the interim constitution, the government’s new plan aims to resolve the issues within 8 months.
The hope is to avoid an accident that would tarnish the reputations of all Thai airlines, like Malaysia Airlines after the two disasters it experienced last year. Most of the 239 people killed when flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2024 were Chinese, which led to a ripple-effect 11.8% drop in Chinese tourists to Malaysia during the first half of 2014. Fortunately for Malaysia, that proved to be short-lived. Tourism actually increased in 2014, and by the end of the year the number of Chinese visitors exceeded their monthly 2013 levels. But while no damage is irreparable, Thailand can ill afford even a temporary hit in its tourism industry, especially since manufacturing and exports have fallen in recent months.
While the new safety plan is being implemented, other nations may scrutinize Thai airlines more and impose similar restrictions. Prayuth’s willingness to acknowledge the full scale of the problem and his vigorous efforts to resolve it are confidence-building signs, but now transparency and results are needed.
