Thailand's air safety rating has been upgraded – but which countries are still failing?
Thailand’s airlines have been handed a boost after the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) removed a red flag against the country over its safety record.
The red flag, put in place in March 2015 after ICAO inspectors discovered 33 significant safety concerns, had prevented Thailand’s airlines from launching any new international services, and subjected them to greater scrutiny and checks. News of its removal prompted a spike in the share price of Thai Airways, the country’s flag carrier, as well as Bangkok Airways.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) described it as a “significant turning point for [Thailand’s] aviation industry” and pledged to “carry on [its] mission to improve aviation safety standards”.
Five of the 185 countries audited by the ICAO, a Montreal-based UN agency, still carry a red flag: Djibouti, Eritrea, Haiti, Kyrgyzstan and Malawi.
At a glance | The five countries flagged over air safety concerns
Thailand has something of a chequered past when it comes to air safety. Soon after the ICAO announced its special measures, the US Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the country’s airlines from a Category 1 to a Category 2 rating. While this permitted Thai airlines to continue operating services to the US, it prevented new routes from being launched. The FAA website shows that Thailand still carried a Category 2 rating, along with six other nations: Bangladesh, Barbados, Curacao, Ghana, Uruguay and St Martin. However, the ICAO’s decision is likely to prompt an upgrade.
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AirlineRatings.com, an independent plane safety and product rating website, assesses more than 400 airlines, awarding them up to seven stars for safety. Of those surveyed in January 2017, 148 were given top marks but almost 50 had three stars or less. Of Thailand's biggest airlines, Nok Air earned only two stars, AirAsia Thailand, Bangkok Air and Orient Thai Airlines were handed three, while Thai Airways was given four. The 14 airlines awarded just a single star for safety were all from either Afghanistan, Indonesia, Nepal or Suriname.
The EU also rates countries and airlines according to air safety. All carriers from 13 countries are currently banned from entering EU airspace (see list below), along with the majority of airlines from Indonesia, Angola and Gabon, and selected airlines from seven other countries.
At a glance | Airlines banned from the EU