Expiration of Thailand's transport aircraft extended

BANGKOK, June 7 (TNA) - The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has extended the expiration of the country's transport aircraft to 22 years, from 18 years, to cater for the growing logistics industry. CAAT Director-General Chula Sukmanop told journalists of the update on June 6 after the CAAT Board had approved the issue at its latest meeting. "The four-year extension of the expiration of each Thai transport aircraft is aimed to provide more rooms for logistics firms to expand their businesses in line with the growing global air cargo service", the CAAT chief reasoned. The CAAT chief cited an updated report issued by the Canada-based International Air Transport Association (IATA) as saying that the global air transport service has expanded by 3 per cent on average annually, but in the entire Asian region and in Thailand alone, it has expanded yearly by 4 per cent and 3.6 per cent on average respectively. The CAAT chief, again, quoted the IATA report as forecasting that the air transport service in Asia should further expand by double over the next 20 years. According to the CAAT chief, Thailand's air transport utilization level has stood at only 2.9 million tons and, thus, has more rooms to grow further. (TNA)