Earlier in the week, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) came out saying that it had concerns about Thailand’s aviation industry, here are the facts & implications:

Thai carriers could face a similar fate to that of Indonesia in 2007 when the European Union barred all 51 Indonesian airlines from landing on its runways, citing lax safety standards. The US and EU also banned Philippine carriers from 2010 to 2013.
If blacklisting actually took place, the US and EU carriers would also have to immediately end code shares with Thai carriers.

ICAO, a UN agency, informed governments around the world about its designation of Thailand as a “significant safety concern” on March 20.

ICAO’s designation came after it determined that the “corrective action plan” submitted by the Department of Civil Aviation on March 2 to address the issues raised by ICAO were “needing revision’, ACM Prajin said this weekend.

The designation is seen as a possible prelude to ICAO’s downgrading of the kingdom from the so-called Category 1 to Category 2 as result of its January audit, which reportedly showed that the DCA was able to meet only 21 out of 100 ICAO requisites.

Source: Bangkok Post

And here’s the impact of it all

The halt is disrupting the peak travel season around the Thai New Year holiday in April. About 100 charter flights to Japan alone have been canceled and some 30,000 tickets either refunded or modified, Somchai Piputwat, the director general of Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), told reporters on Monday.

Budget carriers have been worst hit, Thai officials said, though national carrier Thai Airways International, which is in the midst of a major restructuring, has also been prevented from expanding because of the halt.

Source: Boarding Area

So what?

• Every airline stock price declined dramatically on the back of this news, but both Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways have recovered from their losses.
• Well Japan hasn’t banned all Thailand’s airways just yet, that decision has been postponed until May.
• Does this mean we shouldn’t fly any of the airlines here locally? No I’m fairly certain Thai Airways, Air Asia and Bangkok Airways are fine, maybe even Nok Air, but as for the unlisted names, I’d prefer to stay away for now.