Cancelled Nok flight irks Thai officials

[Admin]

Cancelled Nok flight irks Thai officials 
The Nation: 5 Mar 2010
Nok Air bungles a flight to the northeast
By The Nation
Published on March 5, 2010

The Office of the National Health Commission will next week file a complaint against Nok Air to press for Bt9 million incompensation, following the airline's failure to fly its officials and guests from Bangkok to Sakhon Nakhon.

Palinee Sermsinsiri, an official at the health office, said the airline's failure had caused damage to the office.

The health office had planned to fly a group of 31 health experts, officials and reporters from Don Mueang Airport to the northeastern province on Wednesday to observe a health project.

On Tuesday, it was informed that the captain was not ready and the Wednesday flight was cancelled. New tickets were issued for yesterday. But 15 minutes after the scheduled 9am departure time, they were informed that Nok Air was still waiting for Thai Airways International (THAI) mechanics. The passengers were given hamburgers. When at 11am there was no sign of the plane leaving anytime soon, the group decided to cancel the trip.

Nok Air is a subsidiary of THAI.

which originally planned to leave Don Mueang for Sakhon Nakhon on March 3. Following the mishap on the day, it rescheduled the trip to the next day, only to fail again.

Palinee said the damage suffered by the health office included the cost of air tickets and hotel rooms besides wasted working hours. Three health experts missed the final meeting on living wills, and as a result the meeting fell short of the quorum. Media reporters also could not observe the progress of the office's projects.

"I don't understand what happened with Nok Air that it had to keep passengers waiting for so long. The answers were not clear. We're consulting lawyers and preparing to file a lawsuit, probably next week," she said.

Nok Air started flying the route after parent company THAI decided to relinquish domestic routes to the low-cost airline to focus on its international destinations. During grilling in Parliament yesterday, Transport Minister Sophon Saram insisted that the policy shift was right.

Nok Air resumed operations later yesterday, after sorting out its technical problems.

Suriyapa Bunnag, vice president for corporate communications of Nok Air, insisted that the flight cancellation did not have any serious impact. She said following cancellation of Wednesday's flight, passengers were allowed to claim full refund or reschedule for the next day's flight. Most of the passengers opted for the rescheduling. After the three-hour delay yesterday, 31 passengers cancelled the trip and received refunds.

"We have a policy to take good care of our customers in any case of problem. And this was a technical problem. We had already informed all passengers of the option to claim a refund," said Suriyapa.

She also flatly denied criticism that Nok Air is operating with an insufficient number of pilots and technicians.

Nok Air operates a daily flight to Sakon Nakhon, utilising an ATR-72 aircraft that has 66 seats. THAI provides all maintenance services to Nok Air.

Nok Air recently took over the Bangkok-Sakhon Nakhon route from THAI, along with two other routes - Bangkok-Ubon Ratchathani and Chiang Mai-Mae Hong Son.

A source from Nok Air admitted that there was poor coordination between the two airlines over the handling of the routes. Following the new policy, Nok Air has had to increase flight frequencies. Moreover, the fact that THAI's operations are centred at Suvarnabhumi and Nok Air's at Don Mueang has led to mishandling of aircraft, crew and flight attendants, all of whom belong to THAI.

"There is a gap in understanding. It's like Nok Air is running on the service chartered by THAI. Yet, this won't lead to security problems and this problem should not re-occur," the source said.

Several MPs yesterday slammed the Transport Ministry for allowing THAI to relinquish the domestic routes to Nok Air from March 1. They insisted that as a national carrier, THAI had to serve Thais.

Transport Minister Sophon noted that the old strategy, whereby THAI and Nok Air operated on the same routes, led to losses for both airlines. However, following the change, Nok Air has been instructed to emphasise service quality, punctuality and safety, so that no consumer is affected.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij backed up Sophon, saying the policy shift will reduce both airlines' operating costs and hence the taxpayers' burden.