Nok Air (DD, Bangkok Don Mueang) has completed its AOC recertification drive with the Thai Civil Aviation Authority (TCAA) becoming the sixth mainline Thai carrier to do so after Bangkok Airways, Thai Airways International, Thai AirAsia, Thai AirAsia X, and NokScoot.
“This is a significant step forward toward removing any international red flags that were placed on Thai-registered airlines to operate worldwide," Patee Sarasin, Nok Air’s Chief Executive Officer, said in a statement. "We will continue to further develop and enhance our flight operations, training programs, maintenance arrangements, and cost savings as we move forward. Most important of all, the continued safety of our passengers remains, as always, a top priority."
Thailand has forced its mainline operators to undergo recertification as part of the TCAA's push to have two Significant Safety Concerns (SSC) removed. The red flags were imposed by ICAO in June 2015 following a Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP) inspection in January 2015.
At the time, Thailand reportedly only satisfied twenty-one out the 100 USOAP criteria with problem areas said to have included: personnel licensing and training, airworthiness assessment and certification, airline operations oversight and the granting of Air Operator Certificates (AOC) to airlines.
The TCAA says that more than 80% of the SSC's findings have now been addressed with the remainder seeing significant progress. By month-end, the regulator plans to submit a request letter to ICAO to perform an ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) to withdraw the country’s red flag.
