Thai airlines get reprieve from Japan amid bans

BANGKOK 

Nine days after Japan announced it would ban Thai airlines from flying new flights to and from its airports citing safety fears, Tokyo said Wednesday it will grant the country a reprieve.

Thailand’s transport minister, Air Chief Marshal Prajin Juntong, told the Bangkok Post that the Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau will sign an agreement to allow the airlines to continue scheduled and chartered flights Thursday on the condition strict safety inspections are conducted.

The ban comes in the wake of a March 20 United Nations agency report which declared “significant security concerns” about the operational standards of the country's Department of Civil Aviation, local media reported Wednesday.

The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) statement led to Japan, South Korea and China banning additional flights by airlines registered in Thailand, while Singapore also announced Wednesday it will start strict inspections of Thai aircraft operating on its territory.

The reaction could spell financial disaster for the airlines, particularly low-cost airlines planning additional flights over the Thai New Year period in April.

On Monday, junta chief-cum-Prime Minister General Prayuth Chan-ocha said he will use extensive powers granted to him under a draft of the interim constitution to complete an overhaul of the aviation regulatory system which would take “between two to eight months.”

On Tuesday, he submitted the draft - which will succeed martial law - to King Bhumibol Adulyadej for approval. 

Thailand's transport minister pleaded the Department of Civil Aviation's case Monday, saying it was "substandard due to a limited number of officers, while the number of airlines has increased five-fold in the past ten years.”

New measures will include the hiring of foreign aviation experts and the setting up of a digital database within the department, he said. 

A committee will also be established to update the ICAO every two weeks on measures used to tackle the areas of concerns -- of particular worry as a January audit found that there had been little progress on recommendations made in 2005.

Areas of “significant safety concerns” mentioned in the ICAO's March report included personnel licensing and training, airworthiness assessment and certifications, accident investigation and airline operation oversight.

A Tuesday editorial saw the Bangkok Post mention recent plane crashes in France, Indonesia and the disappearance -- one year ago -- of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. 

“Heed flights ban lesson,” it was headlined.  

“These are important incidents and pertinent to the controversy over Thai aviation," it read.

"That is because civil air regulations, oversight, maintenance and crew reliability, all come down to one big goal: preventing aircraft from crashing.”

The last large-scale accident of a Thai registered aircraft was in Sept. 2007 when a One-Two-Go airlines flight crashed during landing at Phuket island airport, causing the death of 90 people.