Bangkok, Thailand. 20 April 2016. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has appointed CAA International (CAAi), the advisory arm of the UK Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA), to help strengthen CAAT’s aviation safety oversight and compliance with the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
The CAAi project will involve a team of around ten experts from the UK CAA to work collaboratively with CAAT to recertify Thai registered AOCs, to address the Significant Safety Concern (SSC) raised by ICAO in 2015. CAAi will also conduct on-the-job flight operations training to CAAT Inspectors, to help increase their core inspectorate competencies in accordance with international standards. The final work stream includes full-scale ICVM preparation assistance.
This activity will cover all of ICAO’s eight critical elements of a safety oversight system ahead of Thailand’s impending ICVM safety audit by ICAO. The partnership was signed by Mr. Chartchai Tipsunave, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Transport, Acting Director CAAT and Mrs Maria Rueda, Managing Director for CAAi, at a special ceremony held at the Thai Ministry of Transport Headquarters. The ceremony was also attended by the UK Deputy Ambassador to Thailand and representatives from the EU and ICAO.
After the ceremony, Mrs. Rueda said, “With almost 600,000 passengers flying to Thailand from the UK alone in 2014 [Civil Aviation Authority, 2015], we are fully committed to assisting CAAT raise its level of effective implementation and meet the international safety standards set by ICAO. Working together, we are confident we can help lift the SSC and strengthen Thailand’s aviation safety oversight.” The project is expected to commence in May 2016.
