US reinstates Thailand's top aviation safety rating
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FILE PHOTO: Workers service a Thai Airways Airbus A380-800 aircraft at Bangkok International Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand September 3, 2019. Picture taken September 3, 2019. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh/File Photo
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said on Wednesday it had upgraded Thailand's air safety rating to "Category 1" a decade after a downgrade, paving the way for direct U.S.-Thailand flights to resume.
Thai airlines could not launch or expand services to the United States, either directly or as a code-share partner, under the International Aviation Safety Assessment "Category 2" rating the FAA had assigned in 2015 due to a shortage of technical officers and certification problems in transporting hazardous goods. The top rating shows compliance with International Civil Aviation Organization standards.
In 2017, Thailand resolved a significant safety concern identified through the ICAO Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program in 2015, the agency said on Thursday.
Prior to late-2015, Thai Airways flew direct between Bangkok and New York and Los Angeles.
In 2017, Thailand said it aimed to get an air safety rating upgrade by 2018. Bangkok is a regional airline hub and Thailand had more than 35 million foreign tourists last year.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chris Reese and Richard Chang)
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