Putting on the brakes

ICAO’s concerns over Thai aviation regulation

Thailand is now one of the busiest low cost carrier (LCC) hubs in Asia but its no-frills operators have just been handed a slap in the face by some of their major target markets. And all thanks to the country’s shaky reputation for safety oversight.

Indeed, news that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is threatening a downgrade of the country from Category 1 to Category 2 has made China, Japan and Korea, three huge and critical growth destinations for LCCs, very nervous. So nervous that in late March they took pre-emptive action to curb air services by Thailand-registered carriers. If civil aviation regulators in Bangkok don’t get their act together the potential of downgrades or even bans on local carriers flying to Europe or the US is also a very real possibility.