Indonesia has banned Thai-registered airlines from increasing their flights or changing the types of aircraft that fly into the country, Transport Minister Prajin Juntong said Monday.
The Transport Ministry received the notification from its Indonesian counterpart on June 16, ACM Prajin said.
ACM Prajin said the measures will not impede Thai Airways International(THAI) as the Thai-flagged carrier has no plans to increase flights toIndonesia.
THAI currently operates seven flights out of Suvarnabhumi airport to Baliper week and 10 flights out of the airport to Jakarta per week.
The Indonesian Transport Ministry said it would also ask to check airlines’ operation certifications for chartered flights to see if they are in line with required standards, ACM Prajin said.
The minister said no Thai carrier currently operates chartered flights toIndonesia.
He said the move by Indonesia came after an audit by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which on June 18 red-flaggedThailand over its failure to fix shortcomings in the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA).
The shortcomings identified by the ICAO centred on failures to meet aviation safety standards in regards to regulating aviation businesses and granting air operator certificates.
The safety concerns showed a lack of sufficient oversight to ensure implementation of ICAO standards, the organisation said after its audit.
ACM Prajin said the Indonesian authorities will conduct frequent checks on Thai-registered airlines, but this should not be a cause for concern as the measure is also applied to flights to Japan.
DCA director-general Parichart Khotcharat yesterday said Indonesia’srestrictions started on May 29, but it took time for the notification to be relayed from the Foreign Affairs Ministry to the Transport Ministry.