The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has confirmed it has granted additional domestic frequencies to local carriers forced to suspend international operations from September 1 onwards.
As previously reported, several carriers including Orient Thai Airlines, Thai VietJetAir, K-Mile Asia, Jet Asia Airways, Bangkok Jets, Siam Land Flying, Asia Atlantic Airlines, VIP Jets (Thailand), H.S. Aviation, Advance Aviation Jet, and R Airlines are still in the process of completing their respective AOC recertification drives (i.e. are on Stage 4.1) but are unlikely to complete them in time for next month's follow-up ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM).
As such, a CAAT statement issued this week said the affected carriers would be allowed to operate one extra domestic flight per route per day until January 31, 2018, or until their new AOC is issued. However, the services must comply with CAAT regulations which stipulate that a maximum of three airlines are allowed to serve Thailand's smaller airfields. Special landing fees will also be negotiated for the thirty-eight aerodromes around Thailand that are currently under the state's purview.
So far eight airlines have completed recertification and they include Thai Airways International, Thai Smile, Thai Lion Air, Nok Air, Bangkok Airways, Thai AirAsia, Thai AirAsia X, and NokScoot. Two operators that are likely to complete the regulatory requirement ahead of the September 1 deadline include NewGen Airways and MJets (Thailand).
The move to recertify the country's carriers according to new ICAO-specified criteria comes after the organization red-flagged Thailand back in mid-2016 citing poor regulatory oversight. As such, the CAAT will use the successful recertification of Thailand's airlines as the basis for the red flag's upliftment during the ICVM.
