Asian Air (Thailand) (Bangkok Don Mueang) and five other Thai carriers have been given the go-ahead to operate charter flights to Japan for a 6-week interval starting later this month following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Thailand's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau (JCAB) on Friday last week.

Thai Transport Minister Air Chief Marshall Prajin Junthong told a news conference that under the provisional lifting of the ban, Asian Air along with Thai Airways International (TG, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi), Thai AirAsia X (XJ, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi), NokScoot (Bangkok Don Mueang), Jet Asia Airways (Bangkok Suvarnabhumi), and Asia Atlantic Airlines (Bangkok Suvarnabhumi), will be allowed to operate charters to Japan from April 11 to May 31 but are not permitted to change the type of aircraft or routes they have indicated they will operate. Further to that, the carriers will also be subject to more stringent and more frequent inspections ranging from pilot's capabilities to aircraft airworthiness.

As reported last week, regulatory authorities in Japan and South Korea imposed an immediate ban on approving all Thai-registered airlines' applications for new charter and scheduled flights in the wake of the country's failure to pass its most recent Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) inspection in January.

Among the carriers most affected by the moratorium is NokScoot which has been forced to roll back plans to offer flights to Japan and South Korea starting next month. It has now emerged that the longhaul LCC's intentions to serve Nanjing, China from June this year onwards have also been affected.

The Bangkok Post says the deal between Japan and Thailand was to have come into effect on April 2 but was pushed back to April 11 to allow the JCAB ample time to review the DCA's corrective action plan. The same plan is to be sent to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) for approval after the first was rejected.

Bangkok plans to establish two new organisations - the National Civil Aviation Institute and the Air Transport Department - to oversee the country's aviation sector and its airports and infrastructure respectively. As such, experts from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will be hired to ensure ICAO standards are met.

However, should Thailand fail to rectify its shortcomings within 90 days (or by June 2) as required by the ICAO, it will then be forced to sign a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) on Thailand's aviation standards with each country. As such, talks with China, South Korea, Germany, Australia and France have already commenced.