The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) has penalised Orient Thai Airlines for an incident where one of its Boeing 737-300s landed at Nanning with a missing wheel.
The aircraft was operating flight 0X616 from Phuket to Nanning on 11 April, says the Administration in a statement. After the aircraft landed, it was discovered that the left front wheel was missing. It is not clear what happened with the aircraft's wheel.
The CAAC categorises this as a “serious” incident.
As a punishment, it has decreed that the carrier cut five aircraft from its fleet serving China, and also cut five destinations from its China network: Chengdu, Xian, Nanchang, Chongqing, and Nanjing. These sanctions will run for six months.
It has also imposed a
The CAAC calls on Orient Thai to improve both its “safety awareness, operating quality, and address any shortfalls in its systems and organisation.”
Flightglobal was unable to contact the carrier for comment.
Orient Thai operates scheduled and chartered services. FlightMaps Analytics shows that the carrier’s network in China comprises eight cities. After the CAAC sanctions, the only cities it will be allowed to serve in China are Nanning, Changsha, and Shanghai.
Flightglobal’s Fleets Analyzer shows that Orient Thai has 16 aircraft in service: seven 737-300s, five 767-300s, one 767-300ER, one 747-400, and two 737-400s. It also has three 747-400s and one 767-300 in storage. The average age of its fleet is 25 years.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
