No action will be taken against Nok Air for the frequent delays to its flights as the flights made up only a small percentage of its total, Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) chief Chula Sukmanop says.
Mr. Chula made the remarks after yesterday's meeting with the airline's executives to discuss its flight delay problems.
Nok Air is one of several Thai-registered airlines which has had problems with persistent delays. Mr Chula added that Nok Air executives presented information relating to flights between April-September.
Last month, there were 5,140 flights, but only 573 of them or 12% were delayed. The remaining 88% flights were on time, in compliance with normal standards. In light of this, the airline could not be faulted, Mr Chula said.
He said that statistics show that airlines usually experience delayed flights in September due to poor weather resulting from heavy rains.
Under transport regulations, airlines must provide food for passengers if flight delays last two hours or longer.
If delays last more than six hours, this amounts to a flight cancellation, and airlines must arrange other flights for passengers or give passengers refunds or compensation, Mr Chula said. He said Nok Air's average flight delays were 15 minutes or longer, but did not exceed two hours.
Mr Chula added that the CAAT will not yet issue additional measures to prevent flight delays as the existing ones are sufficient to deal with the problems.
Nok Air chief executive Patee Sarasin said that delays to Nok Air flights at Don Mueang airport were caused by rainstorms, while flights in provinces were mostly delayed by fog.
He said the airline has to first take into account the safety of passengers, adding that other airlines had also experienced delayed flights.