Thai-Khun International

I comment on politics, art, music and literature. Science fiction and films. Satire is my style, 'They' have probably got me on file. I have worked in aviation for many years. My hobbies are writing,
Permalink : http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/yurivelasquez

Saturday , July 19 , 2008

Thai Budget Airline One-Two-Go Suspends Operations -Lawsuits or Fuel price ?

Posted by Hermano_Lobo , Reader : 380 , 22:52:59

Blogger Christysweet brought up some very serious allegations about the budget airline One-two-Go in her blog about the Phuket aircrash of an MD-82 aircraft. *There are now lawsuits against the airline from the relatives of some of the victims. This is not surprising given the cowboy* nature of One-two-go operations. The owner, a Mr Udom is claiming fuel costs are the reason for the suspension.** Mr Udom told the Bangkok Post that the suspension was part of what he termed "damage control." Damage control ? What a pun ? Yet these are some of the allegations against the airline:- They claim that Udom Tantiprasongchai regularly and personally engaged in questionable activities that tragically led to a highly foreseeable crash. According to these allegations: Mr. Tantiprasongchai personally encouraged One-Two-Go and Orient Thai pilots to fly unsafe airplanes. Mr. Tantiprasongchai paid bonuses to One-Two-Go and Orient Thai pilots for exceeding legal maximum flying hours and encouraged other unsafe behaviors. Mr. Tantiprasongchai bribed Thai aviation authorities (the DCA) to overlook these improper activities. If any of these allegations is true, clearly Mr. Tantiprasongchai is guilty of criminal conduct and, should that be the case, Mr. Tantiprasongchai must be prosecuted and prevented from expanding his airlines. There can be no question that tourism in Thailand will suffer as word continues to spread that the authorities do not control Thai-based airlines. Thailand is a popular destination because of its beauty and its hospitality, but only a full investigation of this wrongdoing will reassure tourists of air safety. Thai Budget Airline One-Two-Go Suspends Operations BANGKOK (AFP)--Thailand's low budget airline One-Two-Go announced Saturday that it was suspending its operations for eight weeks, to allow time for financial restructuring. Services will stop from July 22 until Sept. 15 as the impact of high fuel prices hits the no-frills carrier, the company said. "One-Two-Go have been affected by fierce price competition, other surcharges and continued high fuel prices and local political turmoil," the company statement said. "The airline executive must be prudent and map out a new strategy focusing on its customers," it added. One-Two-Go is Thailand's first budget airline, launched in December 2003. But the airline has suffered from a poor safety record after a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 jet crashed last September, killing 89 passengers. Bad weather caused the aircraft to career off the runway and burst into flames on the holiday island of Phuket. The fuel surcharge levied by airlines rose on July 5 to 850 baht ($25.43) per trip from THB750 because of oil prices which reached record highs of $147 per barrel a week ago but have since eased to around $130. According to its Web site, One-Two-Go flies to six domestic destinations from Don Mueang airport in Bangkok including Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Surat Thani. Christysweet's blog:- http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/ChristySweet/2008/07/02/entry-1

Blogger Christysweet brought up some very serious allegations about the budget airline One-two-Go in her blog about the Phuket aircrash of an MD-82 aircraft.

There are now lawsuits against the airline from the relatives of some of the victims. This is not surprising given the cowboy nature of One-two-go operations.

The owner, a Mr Udom is claiming fuel costs are the reason for the suspension.

Mr Udom told the Bangkok Post that the suspension was part of what he termed "damage control."

Damage control ? What a pun ?

Yet these are some of the allegations against the airline:-

They claim that Udom Tantiprasongchai regularly and personally engaged in questionable activities that tragically led to a highly foreseeable crash.

According to these allegations:

Mr. Tantiprasongchai personally encouraged One-Two-Go and Orient Thai pilots to fly unsafe airplanes.
Mr. Tantiprasongchai paid bonuses to One-Two-Go and Orient Thai pilots for exceeding legal maximum flying hours and encouraged other unsafe behaviors.
Mr. Tantiprasongchai bribed Thai aviation authorities (the DCA) to overlook these improper activities.

If any of these allegations is true, clearly Mr. Tantiprasongchai is guilty of criminal conduct and, should that be the case, Mr. Tantiprasongchai must be prosecuted and prevented from expanding his airlines.

There can be no question that tourism in Thailand will suffer as word continues to spread that the authorities do not control Thai-based airlines. Thailand is a popular destination because of its beauty and its hospitality, but only a full investigation of this wrongdoing will reassure tourists of air safety.

Thai Budget Airline One-Two-Go Suspends Operations

BANGKOK (AFP)--Thailand's low budget airline One-Two-Go announced Saturday that it was suspending its operations for eight weeks, to allow time for financial restructuring.

Services will stop from July 22 until Sept. 15 as the impact of high fuel prices hits the no-frills carrier, the company said.

"One-Two-Go have been affected by fierce price competition, other surcharges and continued high fuel prices and local political turmoil," the company statement said.

"The airline executive must be prudent and map out a new strategy focusing on its customers," it added.

One-Two-Go is Thailand's first budget airline, launched in December 2003.

But the airline has suffered from a poor safety record after a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 jet crashed last September, killing 89 passengers.

Bad weather caused the aircraft to career off the runway and burst into flames on the holiday island of Phuket.

The fuel surcharge levied by airlines rose on July 5 to 850 baht ($25.43) per trip from THB750 because of oil prices which reached record highs of $147 per barrel a week ago but have since eased to around $130.

According to its Web site, One-Two-Go flies to six domestic destinations from Don Mueang airport in Bangkok including Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Surat Thani.

Christysweet's blog:-

http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/ChristySweet/2008/07/02/entry-1

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comment 11
Hermano_Lobo date : 22/07/2008 time : 17.10
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/yurivelasquez

There was a great deal of commercial pressure on the pilot to land. He may not have even been rated to do so in such conditions. Such is the 'Cowboy' nature of the One-2-Go operation !

comment 10
Hermano_Lobo date : 22/07/2008 time : 17.06
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/yurivelasquez

Christy wrote:"there was not enough foam or water as it had been used up from the training exercise 3 days prior...and that all but 2 of the rescuers had to come in from outside the airport nor were they informed it was a crash emergency."
Criminal !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_shear - Quote:-
In 1988 the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration mandated that all commercial aircraft have on-board windshear detection systems by 1993. Between 1964 and 1985, wind shear directly caused or contributed to 26 major civil transport aircraft accidents in the U.S. that led to 620 deaths and 200 injuries. Since 1995, the number of major civil aircraft accidents caused by wind shear has dropped to approximately one every ten years, due to the mandated on-board detection as well as the addition of Doppler weather radar units on the ground.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airborne_wind_shear_detection_and_alert_system

Even without these systems a typical Air Traffic Control exchange would be:- " Previous aircraft reported severe windshear at two miles," etc etc.

I would have thought that runway grooving would be wise in a monsoon area ?

Like all air crashes it is a combination of things that causes the problem. Rarely just one.

Keep on trucking Christy !

comment 9
ChristySweet date : 21/07/2008 time : 09.35
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/ChristySweet

Hermano_Lobo,

Please allow me to link to my new blog on the latest revelations from InvestigateUdom.com

http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/ChristySweet/2008/07/20/entry-1

I hate how blogs get buried here,especiallywhen it's mine. Please, The Nation, format so latest commented on blogs come out on top .... YOu are burying oodles of information

comment 8
Hermano_Lobo date : 20/07/2008 time : 12.11
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/yurivelasquez

Mama San,
I think you have got to the core as to why an accident like the one at Phuket happened. According to Christy even the airport must share the blame.
Your post could have been written by a friend of mine whn has a similar background to yourself.

comment 7
MamaSan date : 20/07/2008 time : 11.24
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/mamasan

Hermano-San,

Bar girls are not all bad. In Thailand, many were forced into the profession by poverty. Some were reportedly sold into the profession, intentionally or untintentionally, by their poor parents up-country. It is a shame that such things happen in this country. It has to stop. If I were the Minister of Social Welfare and Human Services (assuming there is such a government office here), I would definitely do something about it to help solve the problem.

But alas, the people in government in this country do not really care about their fellow countrymen and women. Their first priority is to line up their own pockets, from day one in office. Corruption is a cancer that has spread out throughout all levels of government and society. It seems that many people now consider corruption as a way of life and as inevitable in Thai society.

To people like myself, we feel very bad and very frustrated. From the time we learned how to speak as youngsters, our parents taught us how to be good people, how to take care of our siblings, how to differentiate between good and bad, how to be good citizens and obey the law, how to obey God and His commandments, how to be honest and truthful, how to work hard and smart, etc.

I don't see these being practised in real life most of the time. It's everyone for himself (tua khai tua man), cheat and rob if you can get away with it, use your smarts to be cunning, etc. There seems to be no virtues in society at large anymore.

I am not saying that there are no more good people in Thailand. There are still many, but they constitute the silent majority. They either don't care or are afraid to make their voices heard. Meanwhile, the vocal minority and the bad apples of society are the ones who are having a field day, shouting and clowning and acting and stealing and rejoicing all the way to the banks.

The country is in a very sorry state. As I am writing this comment, the pig faced master puppet is on TV announcing that from now on he will go on TV daily to denounce the PAD and all of his opposition. Have you ever seen a PM of a country behaving like that? He has time to pick fights with those who oppose him, he has time to moonlight as a cook and TV celebrity, he has time to visit wet markets eveywhere he goes on official isits, but he has no time to govern and administer the country and to solve the many problems facing the nation. And by his own words, he has an "ugly" cabinet, a cabinet that is full of incompetent nincompoops. Where does Thaland go from here? If he is a true leader, why does he allow of these stupid things to happen?

Sorry to let you have an earful, Hermano-San. We the so-called Bangkok Snobs (coined by Felx Qui) have had all of these up to pur ears for too long. We want change for the better, for all of the country and not just for us. We are the ones who pay the most taxes in this country, yet we are not selfish. We are willing to share the wealth with all of our countrymen if they do their share as well.

What we are angry about is the way they have been fooled and bribed by the Square Face Puppet Master and his gang of hoodlums into voting for them and their cronies during the last several elections. If the elections were truly clean and the voters well-informed, with access to all media and information sources, we are sure few will vote for these crooks.

People are all basically good at heart, but they are easily influenced by the bad elements of society, especially when they are relatively poor and see an easy way to make some small money or take small advantages in exchange for their souls. Enough rantng for today. They will not change the world, but at least I am able to get them off my chest.

I am not an Englishman, Hermano-San. I was not even educated in the West, but all of my chilldren are though. I no longer call Thailand home. I visit and stay here on and off several weeks each year, that's all. I prefer to live in Singapore and Hong Kong, but also spend much of my time in North America, where I call home and where my children are. Unfortunately, for me Thailand is no longer an attractive place to be in anymore. It used to be in the past, before Square Face and his gangsters came into power and spoiled everything.

Sayonara.

Mama San
Bangkok
July 20, 2008

comment 6
ChristySweet date : 20/07/2008 time : 11.19
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/ChristySweet

BTW I"m also stating that Phuket Airport is culpable too.
I want answers about allegations that there was no foam or enough water and that all but 2 of the rescuers had to come in from outside the airport.. And wind shear detectors weren't working and no grooves for rainwater runoff and an embankment too close to the runway, Etc..

comment 5
ChristySweet date : 20/07/2008 time : 11.11
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/ChristySweet

Yes, everybody blog this until the truth is printed on the front page !!!
"Sunshine, The Best Disinfectant!!!"

comment 4
Hermano_Lobo date : 20/07/2008 time : 06.42
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/yurivelasquez

Mama San-
I think your English is so good! I Thought you are English having fun? Tahm len?
I have enjoyed your comments on the Thai bar girls. Some of which, I have found to be good people living a difficult life?
I think we share the same political views?

comment 3
MamaSan date : 20/07/2008 time : 01.30
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/mamasan

Hello Hermano-San,

I think Khun Udon is slipping though the back door. I think his airline may never fly again. And, of course, there is a class action suit coming to his airline that, if he loses, with seal the fate of his airline. But then again, one never can be sure what is going on with the airline since it is privately owned.

By the way, thank you for visiting my first blog. My English is only so-so by western standards. As long othe people understand it I am happy.

Sayonara.

Mama San
Bangkok
July 20, 2008

comment 2
Hermano_Lobo date : 19/07/2008 time : 23.50
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/yurivelasquez

Mr Udon claimed earlier that the suspension is to enable 'Financial restructuring'. That's the same as a High Street business closing for 'redecoration' or a 'flood' on the premisses.
One-2-Go is unlikely to fly again?

comment 1
Hermano_Lobo date : 19/07/2008 time : 23.45
http://blog.nationmultimedia.com/yurivelasquez

Apparently Mr Udon is currently unavailable for comment as he is 'overseas'. That's jargon for doing a runner !

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