Phuket Air banned by EC
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Phuket Air banned by EC
Phuket Air barred from EU
BRUSSELS: Phuket Air has been included in a list of 93 passenger and cargo airlines barred from European Union countries and Switzerland, on safety grounds.
It is the only airline in East Asia included in the list. Most of the list, made public on Wednesday, comprises airlines from Africa, with a sprinkling from Central Asia and one from Bangladesh.
The European Commission (EC) has also advised passengers to avoid flying with these airlines elsewhere in the world.
Jacques Barrot, the EC Vice-President responsible for transport, explained, “The European Union now has a coherent approach to banning airlines. This blacklist will keep dubious airlines out of Europe. It will also make sure that all airlines operating in Europe’s sky meet the highest safety standards.”
The list, issued on Wednesday, is a first step, the EC noted in an official release. “The list will be updated as often as is n ecessary and at least every three months.”
Airlines may be added to the list at the request of European Union member states, or by the EC itself. Airlines may also apply to be taken off the list if they believe that their safety standards have been improved to meet EC requirements.
Contacted by the Gazette today, a spokesperson for the airline said that management could give no comment on the EC announcement at this point.
Phuket Air began to have problems with its safety image in April last year when passengers aboard one of its Boeing 747s bound for London forced a takeoff to be aborted after seeing fuel pouring from a wing tank after a refueling stop in Sharjah.
A few days later another flight was abandoned after it had to turn back to London with a hydraulics problem.
Phuket Air dumped its London route and attempted to switch instead to Amsterdam, but the Dutch authorities barred a flight from taking off after it was discovered that emergency lighting inside the aircraft was not working properly. There were also some questions over the pilot’s papers.
In May, the airline was barred from Dutch and British airspace. In August it had an aircraft seized in South Korea for non-payment of airport fees and in the same month it was barred from France.
By the end of August, Phuket air had almost withdrawn from the international market, serving only one international route, between Bangkok and Yangon.
In September, one of its smaller aircraft skidded off the end of the runway at Tak airport, in northern Thailand. No one was injured, but one passenger, Senator Udon Tantisunthorn, suggested the crash might have been caused by pilot error. “If you ask me, the plane should have touched down at the beginning of the runway rather than around the middle,” he said.
BRUSSELS: Phuket Air has been included in a list of 93 passenger and cargo airlines barred from European Union countries and Switzerland, on safety grounds.
It is the only airline in East Asia included in the list. Most of the list, made public on Wednesday, comprises airlines from Africa, with a sprinkling from Central Asia and one from Bangladesh.
The European Commission (EC) has also advised passengers to avoid flying with these airlines elsewhere in the world.
Jacques Barrot, the EC Vice-President responsible for transport, explained, “The European Union now has a coherent approach to banning airlines. This blacklist will keep dubious airlines out of Europe. It will also make sure that all airlines operating in Europe’s sky meet the highest safety standards.”
The list, issued on Wednesday, is a first step, the EC noted in an official release. “The list will be updated as often as is n ecessary and at least every three months.”
Airlines may be added to the list at the request of European Union member states, or by the EC itself. Airlines may also apply to be taken off the list if they believe that their safety standards have been improved to meet EC requirements.
Contacted by the Gazette today, a spokesperson for the airline said that management could give no comment on the EC announcement at this point.
Phuket Air began to have problems with its safety image in April last year when passengers aboard one of its Boeing 747s bound for London forced a takeoff to be aborted after seeing fuel pouring from a wing tank after a refueling stop in Sharjah.
A few days later another flight was abandoned after it had to turn back to London with a hydraulics problem.
Phuket Air dumped its London route and attempted to switch instead to Amsterdam, but the Dutch authorities barred a flight from taking off after it was discovered that emergency lighting inside the aircraft was not working properly. There were also some questions over the pilot’s papers.
In May, the airline was barred from Dutch and British airspace. In August it had an aircraft seized in South Korea for non-payment of airport fees and in the same month it was barred from France.
By the end of August, Phuket air had almost withdrawn from the international market, serving only one international route, between Bangkok and Yangon.
In September, one of its smaller aircraft skidded off the end of the runway at Tak airport, in northern Thailand. No one was injured, but one passenger, Senator Udon Tantisunthorn, suggested the crash might have been caused by pilot error. “If you ask me, the plane should have touched down at the beginning of the runway rather than around the middle,” he said.
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From Wikipedia-------
In March 2006, Phuket Air was entirely scrapped by its shareholders, who were planning to rename the airline and focus on flying four routes between Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Ranong and Buriram Province, using Boeing 737s. They had hoped to call the new entity Suvarnabhumi Airline, but since that name is already taken by the New Bangkok International Airport, which was bestowed by His Majesty the King, Thailand's Civil Aviation Department asked that they find another name.
In March 2006, Phuket Air was entirely scrapped by its shareholders, who were planning to rename the airline and focus on flying four routes between Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Ranong and Buriram Province, using Boeing 737s. They had hoped to call the new entity Suvarnabhumi Airline, but since that name is already taken by the New Bangkok International Airport, which was bestowed by His Majesty the King, Thailand's Civil Aviation Department asked that they find another name.
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huket Airlines ‘will be off blacklist soon’
BANGKOK: Phuket Airlines, recently blacklisted by the European Commission (EC) as one of 93 airlines barred from flying to the European Union (EU) and Switzerland, is confident that it will be reinstated soon, a senior official of the airline said today.
As if to reinforce that confidence, the Gazette has learned that Phuket Airlines has applied to launch another airline, to be called Holiday Airlines. The application is currently being considered by the Thai Aviation Department (TAD).
Phuket Airlines was included in the EU ban list on safety grounds. It is one of only two airlines in East Asia banned, the other being North Korea’s Air Koryo.
The European Commission (EC) has also advised passengers to avoid flying with the 93 airlines anywhere else in the world.
Grp Capt Pattana Tareekes, Phuket Air’s Vice-President, Admi nistration, told the Gazette in an exclusive interview today, “We realize that safety is the most important part of being in the aviation business and we try to improve constantly.
“We are ready to let [EC inspectors] audit our aircraft and we have already let the Aviation Department invite the EC to conduct a safety audit.
“The EC list is to be revised every three months and we want to get off it as fast as possible; it would be good if they could remove us earlier than that,” Capt Pattana said.
“It makes us very sad that this has happened,” he added, “because it has given us a negative image worldwide, and that has seriously affected our business.”
However, the airline’s management is not about to give up, he said. “We will prove that we are an international-standard airline and, when the EU team comes here, I believe we will pass their audit.”
The TAD supports Phuket A irlines’s contention that it should be removed from the blacklist. Kanika Khemmawuthanond, the TAD’s Deputy Director-General, told the Gazette yesterday that, after the airline was barred from the UK and the Netherlands, her department had ordered it to improve its safety, and had kept a close eye on it.
“Phuket Airlines has employed Air France to revamp all systems, especially those relating to safety, to bring them up to international standards. We have checked on progress and believe that the airline is now up to standard, and we have invited the EC to send inspectors to check.
“Unfortunately, at the time when the papers were on their way to Europe, at the beginning of March, the 25 member-countries of EU were meeting [to decide which airlines should be included in the blacklist].”
She noted that Phuket Airlines’ entry in the blacklist was marked by an asterisk, indicating that it would be audited soon to see whether it sh ould be removed from the list.
“The EC knew that we were working to fix Phuket Airlines’ safety systems – that is why they marked the entry with an asterisk.
“I cannot say for sure that the airline will pass the next audit, but the airline is ready for it and I believe we have done the best that we could – it should pass,” K. Kanika added.
Referring to Phuket Airlines’ application to register Holiday Airlines, she said, “The TAD committee is checking the documents now to decide whether to allow it or not. In fact, we are examining seven or eight such applications.”
Capt Pattana declined to make any comment on the application.
The full EC blacklist can be seen at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/...ll_list_en.pdf
BANGKOK: Phuket Airlines, recently blacklisted by the European Commission (EC) as one of 93 airlines barred from flying to the European Union (EU) and Switzerland, is confident that it will be reinstated soon, a senior official of the airline said today.
As if to reinforce that confidence, the Gazette has learned that Phuket Airlines has applied to launch another airline, to be called Holiday Airlines. The application is currently being considered by the Thai Aviation Department (TAD).
Phuket Airlines was included in the EU ban list on safety grounds. It is one of only two airlines in East Asia banned, the other being North Korea’s Air Koryo.
The European Commission (EC) has also advised passengers to avoid flying with the 93 airlines anywhere else in the world.
Grp Capt Pattana Tareekes, Phuket Air’s Vice-President, Admi nistration, told the Gazette in an exclusive interview today, “We realize that safety is the most important part of being in the aviation business and we try to improve constantly.
“We are ready to let [EC inspectors] audit our aircraft and we have already let the Aviation Department invite the EC to conduct a safety audit.
“The EC list is to be revised every three months and we want to get off it as fast as possible; it would be good if they could remove us earlier than that,” Capt Pattana said.
“It makes us very sad that this has happened,” he added, “because it has given us a negative image worldwide, and that has seriously affected our business.”
However, the airline’s management is not about to give up, he said. “We will prove that we are an international-standard airline and, when the EU team comes here, I believe we will pass their audit.”
The TAD supports Phuket A irlines’s contention that it should be removed from the blacklist. Kanika Khemmawuthanond, the TAD’s Deputy Director-General, told the Gazette yesterday that, after the airline was barred from the UK and the Netherlands, her department had ordered it to improve its safety, and had kept a close eye on it.
“Phuket Airlines has employed Air France to revamp all systems, especially those relating to safety, to bring them up to international standards. We have checked on progress and believe that the airline is now up to standard, and we have invited the EC to send inspectors to check.
“Unfortunately, at the time when the papers were on their way to Europe, at the beginning of March, the 25 member-countries of EU were meeting [to decide which airlines should be included in the blacklist].”
She noted that Phuket Airlines’ entry in the blacklist was marked by an asterisk, indicating that it would be audited soon to see whether it sh ould be removed from the list.
“The EC knew that we were working to fix Phuket Airlines’ safety systems – that is why they marked the entry with an asterisk.
“I cannot say for sure that the airline will pass the next audit, but the airline is ready for it and I believe we have done the best that we could – it should pass,” K. Kanika added.
Referring to Phuket Airlines’ application to register Holiday Airlines, she said, “The TAD committee is checking the documents now to decide whether to allow it or not. In fact, we are examining seven or eight such applications.”
Capt Pattana declined to make any comment on the application.
The full EC blacklist can be seen at:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/...ll_list_en.pdf
