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Old Feb 14, 2016, 3:16 pm
  #1  
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Nok air strike

Nok Air pilots are on strike. A thousand stranded passengers so far.

Details: http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/tran...ok-air-flights
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Old Feb 14, 2016, 5:49 pm
  #2  
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From the article in question.

Nok Air chief executive Patee Sarasin later told reporters the airline was forced to cancel the flights because more than 10 pilots staged a strike after it increased audit standards for the flight operations department, bringing them into line with those of the European Aviation Safety Agency. He said some pilots did not meet the new criteria and went on strike to express their discontent.
"Strike" hardly seems fitting. But it sounds much better in corp-speak than, "we had 10 pilots who were no longer qualified to fly our planes."
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Old Feb 14, 2016, 8:18 pm
  #3  
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Good warning for anyone flying Nok Air domestically this week. Maybe call first (but probably useless), arrive early, expect a long wait. They are trying to accommodate passengers on other airlines but there isn't much space available.


Nok Air mulls pilot walkout response

Nok Air officials are meeting Monday to decide on a course of action against 10 pilots who walked off their jobs, causing cancellation of nine Sunday flights. Patee Sarasin, chief executive of Nok Air,...

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/gene...lkout-response



Three airlines to fly Nok Air stranded passengers Monday

Nok Air CEO Patee Sarasin, left, gives a wai to apologise stranded passengers for his airline’s flight cancellation on Sunday at Don Mueang Airport Sunday night.

Thai Airways, Thai Smile, and Orient Thai Airlines will Monday provide some flights to carry Nok Air passengers who were left stranded from the cancellation of its nine flights, Transport Minister
Arkhom Termpitayapaisith told Nation TV.

The decision came after an urgent meeting of executives of Thai Airways, Thai Smile Airways, and Patee Sarasin, the CEO of Nok Air.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/nati...-30279332.html

Passengers' complaints flood Nok Air's Facebook page

Complaints from Nok Air passengers flooded its Facebook about the airline's cancellation of its flightswithout prior notice. At least nine flights of Nok Air have been cancelled on Sunday after pilots went on strike.

They complained that the cancellation wasted their time and money.

"Flying with Nok Air is risky...the incident made their credibility lost," a passenger write on its Facebook.

Another passenger made complaints via Nok Air Facebook page for changes of the airline’s flight from Bangkok to Surat Thani following the strike.

"For a way back to Surat, [my online itinerary] said boarding time at 16.00. But when I checked in, [I was informed at the airport] that it would instead be at 15.40," he said

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/brea...-30279318.html
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Old Feb 15, 2016, 6:44 pm
  #4  
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Barn door, horse...


Airlines ordered to draw up crisis contingency plans

THE TRANSPORT Ministry yesterday ordered all 14 Thai-registered carriers to submit flight cancellation contingency plans to prevent a repeat of a Nok Air incident on Sunday in which nine of its flights were suddenly cancelled, leaving more than 1,400 passengers in the lurch.

Nok Air's chief executive officer Patee Sarasin declined to confirm a report that seven senior executives in charge of flight operations and safety were suspended, and a senior manager dismissed yesterday.

Deputy Transport Minister Ormsin Chivapruck warned that any airline that failed to prevent a similar cancellation could have its aviation licence suspended and subsequently revoked. Plans must be submitted to the |ministry within 30 days.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/busi...-30279404.html
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Old Feb 15, 2016, 7:02 pm
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Nok Air sacks a pilot and suspends two other pilots for two weeks

A pilot of Nok Air airline was sacked and two other pilots were suspended from work for a week following a protest by a group of pilots on Sunday which forced the airline to cancel nine domestic flights resulting to passengers being stranded at Don Meuang international airport.

The company held a meeting on Monday to discuss the pilots’ protest on Sunday and decided to terminate the employment of Mr Sanit Kongpetch, a pilot and manager of the pilot’s standard division, without any financial compensation after faulting him of committing serious offence against the company.

Two pilots were suspended from work for one week from Monday until February 22 and seven other pilots, including those in management level, have been placed under investigation.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/151066
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Old Feb 16, 2016, 6:24 pm
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I would be leery of flying Orient Thai, for obvious reasons.
The question that hasn't been answered is why these pilots, if unqualified, were allowed to fly previously. They just didn't become unqualified over night.

This situation really annoys me as I made NOK my carrier of choice for domestic flights. I have to pop up to Chiang Rai soon and I want to fly out of DMK. As I dislike FD and don't fancy heading to Swampy for WE, I suppose I have a bias here in wanting NOK to clean up its operations. Plus I like my NOK club membership
(The NOK club membership is a wonderful option providing an additional 5 kg of luggage, although it would be nice if it was 15 kg to match TG)
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Old Feb 16, 2016, 6:27 pm
  #7  
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Think about it.

Thailand is trying to meet international standards.

Nok Air fight almost hits a building.

A week later, many of their pilots have been deemed not legal to fly. (I'm guessing including one of the pilots on that flight)

In Thailand, the 'tricks' and 'zig zagging' are never confined to one player.

My prediction. Expect many "reductions in service" across all the airlines in Thailand as they week out the un-legal pilots still flying in the other airlines. You can bet this is being done out of the public eye already.

A good sign, in my opinion. IF they can keep the standards up. However, this may be one of dozens of items that need to be improved.

Dog help us if they dig too deep into the flying backgrounds of all the pilots. After cleaning house, they may not be left with too many able souls.
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Old Feb 17, 2016, 1:24 am
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Those troubled pilots have both rolls as pilot and management position when NOK wants to upgrade their standard to match EASA standard and had pre-audit. They failed for operation management because the standard not allow people to have 2 positions so they asked those pilots that also have management position to be only pilot and leave the management position to someone else. So, the trouble begins.
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Old Feb 17, 2016, 7:54 am
  #9  
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Originally Posted by dsquared37
From the article in question.



"Strike" hardly seems fitting. But it sounds much better in corp-speak than, "we had 10 pilots who were no longer qualified to fly our planes."
This would be ten pilots of how many total?
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Old Feb 17, 2016, 9:01 am
  #10  
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Originally Posted by 2lovelife

My prediction. Expect many "reductions in service" across all the airlines in Thailand as they week out the un-legal pilots still flying in the other airlines. You can bet this is being done out of the public eye already.

A good sign, in my opinion. IF they can keep the standards up. However, this may be one of dozens of items that need to be improved.

Dog help us if they dig too deep into the flying backgrounds of all the pilots. After cleaning house, they may not be left with too many able souls.
And if it's OK with everyone, I think I'll just avoid Nok Air flights for a while until it all gets sorted out.
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Old Feb 17, 2016, 8:06 pm
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Originally Posted by Tchiowa
And if it's OK with everyone, I think I'll just avoid Nok Air flights for a while until it all gets sorted out.
I get it, but I do wish to draw your attention to the fact that Thai Airways supplied the pilots.
All of our captains are originally from Thai Airways (PCL). They are regularly trained according to an advanced standard course which is officially accepted by the FAA.

As an aside, only Thai nationals are allowed to work as Nok pilots.
(Airlines such as the Gulf airlines, Cathay, and EVA who all have excellent safety records have foreign nationals employed as pilots.)

TG also does the maintenance for Nok and the FAs are trained as per the TG training program.

This then begs the question: If Nok has issues, what about TG? Or is this how TG plans to cut its pilot numbers?
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Old Feb 17, 2016, 10:50 pm
  #12  
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Believe joy16's explanation matches the current scuttlebutt; pilots double-dipping. Should have used fake IDs, family members or aliases; all of which are common dodges here. Potentially a huge issue, given the conflicts of interest between safety and ops.

European ambition caused Nok Air strike

The chief executive officer of Nok Air blames Sunday's flight chaos on the airline's efforts to improve its standards to help Europe operations, which upset some pilots. Speaking to the press at Don Mueang...

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/tran...nok-air-strike


Nok Air moves to restore schedule

NOK AIR expects to restore its flight schedule in April after slashing 10-15 per cent of its flights since October because of a shortage of pilots.

It is recruiting new Thai and foreign pilots while drawing up an emergency plan and seeking collaboration with other airlines and charter operators to serve passengers until Monday.

Patee Sarasin, chief executive officer of the domestic budget carrier, said yesterday that the company had finished compensating 40 per cent of the 3,000 passengers grounded by the cancellation of nine flights caused by a pilots' strike on Sunday.

The compensation process followed the standard of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand, he said.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/busi...-30279552.html
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Old Feb 18, 2016, 5:14 pm
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Nok Air Denies Flying Unqualified Trainee Pilots


BANGKOK — Nok Air has been warned it could lose its license if it repeats the poor handling of a crisis that left hundreds of passengers stranded Monday as the airline denies a former manager’s accusation that it has been using unqualified trainees to fly its planes.

The Tuesday warning from the Ministry of Transport came a day after representatives of the budget airline failed to show up at a meeting to discuss solutions to the situation that left more than 1,500 passengers stranded Sunday.

“When this kind of incident happens, the CEO or top executives must take responsibility immediately,” government spokesman Maj. Gen. Sansern Kaewkamnerd said. “But in this case, there were only lower rank staff members trying to solve the situation.”

http://www.khaosodenglish.com/detail...180&section=13
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Old Feb 19, 2016, 7:42 pm
  #14  
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CAAT to examine Nok Air's internal management after pilot strike

BANGKOK, 19 February 2016 (NNT) - The Ministry of Transport has instructed the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) to probe the pilots and management of Nok Air.

Transport Minister Akom Termpittayapaisit revealed that Nok Air executives have already presented him a short-term plan to address their safety issues. His statement was made after the minister visited the CAAT and Department of Airports to observe progress on emergency passenger safety measures.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/website_en...N5902190010002


Thailand's Nok Air postpones JV with Euro carrier to 2017

Nok Air (DD, Bangkok Don Mueang) has postponed plans to partner an undisclosed European carrier in the wake of a pilot strike that paralysed operations this past weekend.

According to Reuters, CEO Patee Sarasin told a news conference that the agreement would have involved the leasing of aircraft and would have allowed the Thai carrier to deploy capacity to Europe during the high season there while its partner would have deployed its surplus capacity to Asia during Europe's traditional low winter season.

However, in order to secure the contract, Nok Air would have to restructure its operations in line with European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) standards, a move that its pilots resisted thus leading to Sunday's industrial action.

http://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/ne...arrier-to-2017
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Old Feb 20, 2016, 12:31 am
  #15  
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Not sure what this means? (Monday, 22 Feb is a holiday, Macha Bucha, so we are in a 3-day weekend)

Nok Air cancels flights Tuesday

Nok Air today announced the cancellation of 20 flights on Tuesday February 23, and instructed passengers to contact its call centre 1318 for more information.
No reason was given for the cancellations of the domestic flights, but the airline apologised for the inconvenience caused to its passengers.

Affected flights include Don Mueang to Hat Yai, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Surat Thani, Trang, Phitsanulok, Chiang Rai, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Sakhon Nakhon, and Khon Kaen.

http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/content/151743

The following flights on 23 February 2016 will be cancelled.
> DD7106 ดอนเมือง-หาดใหญ่ (DMK-HDY)
> DD7107 หาดใหญ่-ดอนเมือง (HDY-DMK)
> DD7818 ดอนเมือง-นครศรีธรรมราช (DMK-NST)
> DD7819 นครศรีธรรมราช-ดอนเมือง (NST-DMK)
> DD7208 ดอนเมือง-สุราษฎร์ธานี (DMK-URT)
> DD7209 สุราษฎร์ธานี-ดอนเมือง (URT-DMK)
> DD7406 ดอนเมือง-ตรัง (DMK-TST)
> DD7407 ตรัง-ดอนเมือง (TST-DMK)
> DD8414 ดอนเมือง-พิษณุโลก (DMK-PHS)
> DD8415 พิษณุโลก-ดอนเมือง (PHS-DMK)
> DD8718 ดอนเมือง-เชียงราย (DMK-CEI)
> DD8719 เชียงราย-ดอนเมือง (CEI-DMK)
> DD9214 ดอนเมือง-อุดรธานี (DMK-UTH)
> DD9215 อุดรธานี-ดอนเมือง (UTH-DMK)
> DD9314 ดอนเมือง-อุบลราชธานี (DMK-UBP)
> DD9315 อุบลราชธานี-ดอนเมือง (UBP-DMK)
> DD9410 ดอนเมือง-สกลนคร (DMK-SNO)
> DD9411 สกลนคร-ดอนเมือง (SNO-DMK)
> DD9814 ดอนเมือง-ขอนแก่น (DMK-KKC)
> DD9815 ขอนแก่น-ดอนเมือง (KKC-DMK)
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