Think rice, rubber, and cars. The story is here.
Category: Thailand
I’m delighted that my recent NewYorker.com story, which I mentioned earlier, has made it to the site’s “most popular” list; the piece has been shared one thousand times on Facebook and has been Tweeted sixty times.
The list is visible on the right side of the home page, pictured above.
Up now over at NewYorker.com: a story I wrote about a Red Bull heir, a hit-and-run, and what the data reveals about income distribution here in Thailand.
A couple of Tweets I appended to my last post:
Regarding the painting over of logos on the aircraft of @ThaiAirways flight 679. This is not in line with @staralliance crisis (1/2)
— Star Alliance (@staralliance) September 9, 2013
guidelines. It would appear that the official quoted was misinformed. (2/2)
— Star Alliance (@staralliance) September 9, 2013
A WSJ Southeast Asia Real Time post explains that such logo masking was once more common. But that was before social media:
A common practice by airlines trying to reduce negative publicity about accidents – masking their company logo on a plane involved in a mishap – is proving ineffective in the social-media age, when passengers and onlookers can snap photos and put out unflattering comments to a global audience within minutes of an incident.
And:
“It is now not considered best practice in the airline community to do this,” said John Bailey, the managing director of Icon International, a communications firm that also advises airlines on crisis management.
He pointed out that passengers and airport visitors commonly have smartphones with cameras, marking quite a different world than two decades ago when airlines commonly masked their logos on damaged planes.
“The environment has changed, and the challenge for airlines is infinitely more complicated. If an accident happens in a visible and populated area, the airline can’t hope to match the speed of response of eyewitnesses and survivors,” said Mr. Bailey, who previously worked with the International Air Transport Association.
An update to my previous post…
Update two: September 10 — see Tweets embedded at the end of this post. Star Alliance said last night that “painting over of logos” is not Star Alliance policy. And an emailed statement from Thai Airways shortly thereafter confirmed this.
The AP on last night’s accident:
A Thai Airways Airbus 330-300 skidded off the runway while landing at Bangkok’s main airport after its landing gear malfunctioned, the airline said Monday. Thirteen people were injured while evacuating the plane.
After the accident, workers on a crane blacked out the Thai Airways logo on the tail and body of the aircraft, as part of an effort to protect the airline’s image according to Star Alliance guidelines, an official said. It was the second mishap in less than two weeks for Thailand’s national carrier.
And:
Thai Airways official Smud Poom-On said that “blurring the logo” after an accident was a recommendation from Star Alliance known as the “crisis communication rule,” meant to protect the image of both the airline and other members of Star Alliance.
Then came a Business Insider post, accompanied by Reuters photos, with the headline:
Airline Awkwardly Blacks Out Logo From Jet That Skidded Off The Runway
Click through to see the pics.
Elsewhere, The Guardian has a video, embedded below.
There’s more from The Independent.
Meanwhile, the WSJ has a story putting the accident into perspective:
Two Chinese nationals were hospitalized Monday afternoon after a Thai Airways International PCL THAI.TH +7.69% airliner skidded off the runway on landing at Bangkok’s international airport, in the flag carrier’s most serious mishap in over a decade.
And:
Thai Airways said the A330 aircraft in April underwent a comprehensive maintenance check, which occurs once every five years. It also said the captain in command of the Sunday flight had over 14 years of flying experience. Hours after the incident, Thai Airways applied black paint on parts of the jet to cover the airline name, logo, and registration number, a move the airline said was done according to international practices following an accident.
Indeed, as I Tweeted earlier:
Painting over Thai Airways logo? Airlines do it more than you’d think: http://t.co/MCsleDhe0H http://t.co/7ak6aMqsgC cc @RichardBarrow
— Newley Purnell (@newley) September 9, 2013
Update 2:
Regarding the painting over of logos on the aircraft of @ThaiAirways flight 679. This is not in line with @staralliance crisis (1/2)
— Star Alliance (@staralliance) September 9, 2013
guidelines. It would appear that the official quoted was misinformed. (2/2)
— Star Alliance (@staralliance) September 9, 2013
And:
1. Thai Airways statement just now: “Though THAI generally practices the de-identifying of an aircraft after an incident (or accident)…”
— Newley Purnell (@newley) September 9, 2013
2. Thai Air statement contd: “…the Company also clarifies that it is NOT a Star Alliance policy or procedure to de-identify aircraft.”
— Newley Purnell (@newley) September 9, 2013
- Happened late last night (Sunday night), Bangkok Post reports.
- Flight TG679, from Guangzhou.
- Nose gear collapsed; plane slid off runway
- At least 13 injured
- Delays expected today (Monday) at Suvarnabhumi airport
The Bangkok Post reports:
A Thai Airways International flight from China veered off the runway as it arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport Sunday, and the airline said at least 13 people were injured in the rough landing.
Authorities at the airport said they could not clear the accident, and flight delays were likely Monday.
And:
THAI president Sorajak Kasemsuvan said the airline had not moved the aircraft from the runway, which was blocked as of Monday morning. There was no need to switch flights to Don Mueang airport, as Suvarnabhumi could manage the situation.
However, some delays are expected for both inbound and outbound flights using the airport on Monday, he said.
The Nation has a story and some photos.
For more, you can see the Thai Airways Twitter feed:
TG679 Guangzhou-Bangkok experienced incident while landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport.14 passengers were slightly injured and sent to hospital.
— Thai Airways (@ThaiAirways) September 8, 2013
And Richard Barrow has also been Tweeting some images and other information.
Note that Thai Airways says 14 were injured; Bangkok Post says “at least 13”; Nation says 13.
Categories
Programming Note: I’m Back in Bangkok..
…and after a year in the U.S., experiencing, once again, Thailand’s glorious tropical heat. (And it’s not even hot season.)
The temps here remind me of this May 2012 Tweet and photo from Annelie (@a_nnelie):
CNN explains why it's so hot in Thailand pic.twitter.com/5fjA9DzH
— Annelie (@a_nnelie) May 2, 2012
Sometimes that’s truly how it feels here, especially when you’re coming from cooler climes.
Reuters reports today:
Thailand faced pressure on Friday to end a two-week protest by rubber farmers after violent overnight clashes between riot police and a group of protesters who hurled rocks and bottles filled with an acidic liquid.
Police fired tear gas to disperse a group of protesters in Prachuap Khiri Khan province on a main road from Bangkok to the southern beach resort region of Phuket. At least 21 policemen were injured, authorities said.
“Acid and rocks were thrown at police, leaving one officer with a serious injury. Orders were issued to use teargas after a group of youths, who were not part of the protest, fired at police,” Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok said on Friday.
For more, see stories from The AP, AFP, Al Jazeera, and The Bangkok Post.
And for an interesting look at Thailand’s rubber market, see this Bangkok Pundit post:
One thing that has surprised BP regarding the recent protests by rubber farmers is when analyzing the issue that little coverage is given to the actual rubber market. Successive governments have provided price support/subsidies for rice and rubber, but in slightly different forms. BP views there is a key reason for this and that is the markets for rice and rubber are quite different. This issue seems to be glossed over. One big difference is the existence of synthetic rubber.
The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday:
Thailand’s government has been pushing for a top-level dialog for months to find a way out of its deep-seated conflicts, and grandees such as former British premier Tony Blair and Finland’s former leader Martti Ahtisaari converged in Bangkok Monday for an independently run talk-fest on how the country can move forward.
But there’s a problem.
So far, Thailand’s opposition parties have refused to participate in reconciliation talks, going as far as to accuse Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government of paying Mr. Blair 20 million baht, or $640,000, for his appearance fee at Monday’s forum – an allegation that both the government and Mr. Blair denied.
There’s more today from the Bangkok Post.
A quick follow up on the protests in Thailand I mentioned a few days back:
The AP reports:
Thai lawmakers gave initial approval Thursday to a controversial bill to grant amnesty to people charged with political offenses during turmoil that began with a 2006 military coup.
The lower house of parliament voted 300 to 124 to accept the government-sponsored bill in principle after a two-day debate. Critics of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra fear it is an initial move toward allowing his return from overseas, where he fled to avoid jail after a conflict of interest conviction.
And:
Opposition from outside parliament was unexpectedly weak, and fears of major clashes involving street protests were not realized. The fate of Thaksin, who was ousted by the coup after being accused of corruption and disrespect for Thailand’s revered monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, arouses fierce passions that sometimes have erupted into violence.
Meanwhile, The Guardian has a story on the protests, along with some analysis from Thitinan Pongsudhirak:
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist at Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, said the protests demonstrated a disenchantment” with the government but it was highly unlikely that they would overthrow it.
“The protest really is designed to unseat the government. But the anti-Thaksin coalition is not united, there is unlikely to be any intervention by the military or the judiciary, and there is not enough traction, not enough numbers [from the protesters], for them to really succeed,” he said.
The BBC has a video report, including remarks from former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
And here’s a roundup of media coverage from Bangkok Pundit.
And finally, The Bangkok Post reports today that:
Authorities were confident they could easily handle the group of anti-government demonstrators still camping at Lumpini Park on Friday following the lifting of the Internal Security Act (ISA), saying they present no threat.