Thai budget airline faces US suit over crash

Thailand’s budget carrier, One-Two-Go, is facing a lawsuit in the US filed by families of victims of the carrier’s crash in Phuket, Thailand in September of 2007. More than 70 individual suits are in preparation seeking compensation of up to US$400 million. The legal action names Orient Thai Airlines, based in Bangkok, and its budget carrier brand, One-Two-Go Airlines, as defendants.

Family members are also asking that Thai authorities file criminal charges against the founder and chief executive of both airline companies, Udom Tantiprasongchai.

A Chicago-based firm that specializes in aviation disaster litigation around the world, Ribbeck Law Chartered, has been authorised by survivors and victims’ families to represent them in seeking damages from the airlines, Boeing and other liable parties.

A One-Two-Go MD-82 aircraft crashed when it attempted to land at the Phuket International Airport on 16 September 2007, in heavy rains and strong winds, leaving 89 dead and 41 injured.

The airplane was built by the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, which Boeing took over in 1997.

The Thai budget carrier is up against numerous multi-million-dollar lawsuits initiated by crash survivors and the families of victims in several locations, including the US and England.

www.orient-thai.com