Thai Airways Safety not so smooth? Good people have no voice

“Smooth as silk,” the appropriate advertising slogan for Thailand’s national airline carrier and Star Alliance Member Thai Airways International.

“Smooth as silk,” the appropriate advertising slogan for Thailand’s national airline carrier and Star Alliance Member Thai Airways International.

The ultra modern, super clean Thai Airways International Airbus A380 took off last week on itโ€™s scheduled daily non-stop flight from Frankfurt to Bangkok. But trouble is brewing for the Thai airline.

eTurboNews publisher Juergen Steinmetz was among the passengers on board who enjoyed almost an entire economy section for himself on a 400 EURO one-way ticket. He said: “The service as always on Thai was fantastic, meals tasty and the smiles of the flight attendants made you feel safe and appreciated. Thai has been one of my most favorite airlines for decades and I had flown them many times.”

No doubt, the flight was smooth and safe, said Steinmetz. “The movie selection made the time pass, but only about 50 passengers were traveling on this widebody flight and enjoyed the service on this Star Alliance carrier.

“The plane was almost empty, how deep is this airline in trouble?”

When eTN asked a flight attendant how Thai compares with its competitors including Singapore Airlines or Emirates, the flight attendant smiled and said, “Yes, they may be more professional sometimes, but we have the nicer smile”

This begs the question: “Is the beautiful smile behind the Thai leadership not to address the current situation in a transparent way and the believe the problem will go away with time, or better with political lobbying?”

Further, what would it do to an excellent airlines like Thai Airways to no longer be allowed to fly to key destinations such as Frankfurt, London, Paris, Rome or Los Angeles due to safety concerns? What would it do to the already fragile travel, tourism and aviation industry in the “Land of Smiles?”

When eTN reached out to Thai Airways management, there was only a standard response from the Germany based PR agency with a 2 months old written statement. Thus, proving yet again that Whenever someone in Thailand has no solution, ignoring calls and silence is most likely the answer.

Here is the reality: Thai Airways is about to loose its certification as a CAT 1 to a CAT 2 airline, most likely resulting in a denial to fly to airports in the European Uniton or United States of America due to safety issues.

FAATG1 | eTurboNews | eTN

LetterTG1 | eTurboNews | eTN

Thai executives and the Thai government are fighting to keep its CAT 1 certification. However this fight is not addressing or correcting the issue, but to lobby on a political level behind closed doors.

“Thai carriers were allowed to operate to Japan till the end of May due to restrictions imposed by Japan Civil Aviation Bureau but this was just now extended indefinitely.

Obviously there is a reason. Thailand signed a deal with Japan for a high-speed railway system. Japan compromised aviation safety in return for a lucrative high speed railway contract awarded.

Coincidently, signing this high-speed railway contract and a reprieve of flights happened during a trip to Japan by the Thai Transport Minister.

Thai carriers who got the reprieve included some carriers banned by CAAC of China after they had conducted their own audits on Thai airline carriers.

This clearly shows a wrong application of the Chicago Convention over national interests. How one country can ban or restrict, while the other gives indefinite reprieve? “This is a laughable situation.โ€

These are the words by James Stewart Kim of AVCON Worldwide, based in the United Kingdom and Singapore. He and his company is one of the whistleblowers claiming his company found discrepancies in disclosing maintenance data during inspections in 2013 on Thai Airways planes.

It includes missing log files, changed and altered safety reports and a situation that Thai Airways is overwhelmed to keep required maintenance rules in check with international norms.

He told eTurboNews: “I have warned TG and the Thai government about safety concerns in 2013 but they did nothing to prevent the current situation from happening.”

Frequent government changes in Thailand the recent coup or other conditions may hamper any long term actions, implantation, enforcement.

It is the fact of Thailand’s style to do business, which outsiders canโ€™t change. No certainty of government term (for politicians), certainty of their retirement (senior position appointments are usually made 3 to 4 years before retirement) cause this situation.

Kim added: “My actions are for the good of the Thai aviation for the future. It is time for it. If I wanted to damage TG and Thai DCA, I could have exposed everything already in 2013 but I have been patiently waiting. Thai’s (TG) sincere apology alone could have solved all issues in 2013. The current situation confirms that a change of a president does not change the corporate culture and mentality of TG.

“I would like to see TG and the Thai government change the way how they do business, and how they deal with issues. Because TG is a state enterprise and Thai politicians think their usual way of lobbying would work, everything is left behind.”

“The next government will face problems, the next management will deal with problems. That is the Thai mentality. Thai Airways’ website clearly mentioned transparent, good corporate governance, but it has no such practice.

“I also heard that a Executive Management Meeting decided not to do anything unless they are bombarded by actions from our firm. I want them to change their practice for the good of everyone, for the good of the travel, tourism and aviation industry. There are good people at Thai and in Thai Aviation who care about the airline but their voices are not heard because of ignorance in the management.”

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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