B737 of Thai crown prince impounded at Munich

[regi]

Germany impounded the B737 of the crown prince of Thailand because of a bill still has to be paid to a German company.

A strange story, a lot of face losing, and a case to be followed because it could be a precedent for future cases. (but it is not the first such a case if I am not wrong )

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... -royal-jet

( the funny thing about this fact is that the press doesn't go into detail why the crown prince is in Munich. But that is for other fora . Small hint: it is officially censored in Thailand to talk about the reasons of the visits , and it is punishable by lese majeste law)

more details:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... -royal-jet
and this: ( with the detail that the airplane is registred under Thai state ownership and not private property by the prince )
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/Ka ... 60380.html

[regi]

and for those who want to see the sticker on the door :
http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/sozial ... 94,00.html

and even a very close close up of the letter:
http://www.ftd.de/unternehmen/handel-di ... 78068.html

I have to admit that the tone in the German article sounds a bit sarcastic.

[andorra-airport]

( the funny thing about this fact is that the press doesn't go into detail why the crown prince is in Munich. But that is for other fora . Small hint: it is officially censored in Thailand to talk about the reasons of the visits , and it is punishable by lese majeste law)

Now you make me curious Regi............

[Desert Rat]

You should be careful Khun Regi, you could end-up taking the short queue at the immigration in Suvarnabhumi......

[regi]

You should be careful Khun Regi, you could end-up taking the short queue at the immigration in Suvarnabhumi......

I am very careful indeed, and that is why I immediately refer to the Thai legislation before somebody goes off topic , and tresspasses that legislation. Which involves that you can be convicted for lese majeste in Thailand even if you made the offense outside Thailand.
So yes, let's stay on course and just talk about that impounded airplane. Not about the users.

Very seriously: the moment that 1 member would post here 1 bad word about Thai royalty, and it comes to the ears of the ministry, this website could be blocked for readers in Thailand.
( the list of blocked websites is > 10,000 and contains quite some big names in publishing )
( maybe our webmaster can give us an insight how many views from Thailand he has ?)

[Desert Rat]

... ...

[hakan]

so this aircraft wasn't part of Thai govt or diplomatic immunity?

[LJ]

so this aircraft wasn't part of Thai govt or diplomatic immunity?

Diplomatic immunity is limited to people only, not the assets of a certain government.

[hakan]

so this aircraft wasn't part of Thai govt or diplomatic immunity?

Diplomatic immunity is limited to people only, not the assets of a certain government.

Thanks. Let's see how the Thai govt will react to this...maybe impounding a Lufthansa aircraft due to some missing paperwork, unpaid bills

[andorra-airport]

Thanks. Let's see how the Thai govt will react to this...maybe impounding a Lufthansa aircraft due to some missing paperwork, unpaid bills

They already did 1 thing: They put Schneider (the insolvency administrator) on the "persona non grata" list banning him from entering Thailand.

Oh and I just learned why the prince is so often in Germany. And indeed, better not to be discussed here.

[regi]

Thanks. Let's see how the Thai govt will react to this...maybe impounding a Lufthansa aircraft due to some missing paperwork, unpaid bills

They already did 1 thing: They put Schneider (the insolvency administrator) on the "persona non grata" list banning him from entering Thailand.

Oh and I just learned why the prince is so often in Germany. And indeed, better not to be discussed here.

Well, they react in the same way as when the economic crisis in 1997: it was all the fault of The Foreigner, in that case Mr. Sorros.
Where did you find that news about banning Mr. Schneider?

[andorra-airport]

Where did you find that news about banning Mr. Schneider?

http://news.asiaone.com/News/Latest+New ... 89377.html Last line in the news report.

„Hab’ ich gerade auf der Internetseite einer thailändische Zeitung gelesen“, sagt Schneider mit schwäbischen Einschlag und gänzlich unbeeindruckt. Doch Urlaub ist für ihn derzeit sowieso nicht in Sicht.

Apperently the prince was affraid that his expensive Mercedes would be taken too in Germany. Last-minute the Thai plates were changed into German diplomatic plates.

(German:) http://www.merkur-online.de/lokales/flu ... 23468.html

[thalenoi]

Seems he also needs to protect his german car:

Maha Vajiralongkorn, heir to the throne, has “hidden” his Mercedes SLK sportscar in a private parking space of a luxury Munich hotel in southern Germany where it is being watched over by 10 bodyguards, the paper said.

The 58-year-old, currently spending his time picking strawberries in the area, has also had the car’s Thai number plates removed and replaced with diplomatic ones, the paper added, without saying where it got the information.

[Nevihta]

This aircraft was in EBLG last week. And the prince of Thailand is quite often and for long periods in Munich, no secret there...

[andorra-airport]

And the prince of Thailand is quite often and for long periods in Munich, no secret there...

The secret is WHY he is so often in Munich. Well, let's say it is a public secret, you can find it online.

The 58-year-old, currently spending his time picking strawberries in the area

No, that has been a while ago: http://www.wochenblatt.de/nachrichten/k ... 1176,55776

The prince is now in Thailand, for "Khao Phansa".

[regi]

OK, papers of ownership are presented to the court.
So it seems that this will end with a lot of excuses from German side, and no payment from Thai side.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/07 ... 60692.html

Just a question: why did they impound this airplane and not one of the Thai Airways airplanes ? Is it because TG could be regarded as an independent company? Or because...it would hurt the interests of Star Alliance with LH?

[regi]

New twist: the airplane may depart if a guarrantee of 20 M € is provided. ( the estimated value of the plane )
But the Thai side remains stubborn and says frankly : no pay.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/2 ... -royal-jet

I wonder how many Thai people start to ask if they also could get a second hand RTAF B737 for personal use.

[regi]

Does nobody wonder why it all takes so long to prove who is the real owner of a B737? The Thai side needs a month to provide paperwork...

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2011/07 ... 61041.html

[sn26567]

A German insolvency administrator was on Sunday quoted as saying he was considering impounding a second jet used by the Thai Crown Prince, reported German tabloid Bild am Sonntag.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... 7520110724

If I were in charge of Thai Airways, I wouldn't fly to Germany anymore...

[regi]

A German insolvency administrator was on Sunday quoted as saying he was considering impounding a second jet used by the Thai Crown Prince, reported German tabloid Bild am Sonntag.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/07/ ... 7520110724

If I were in charge of Thai Airways, I wouldn't fly to Germany anymore...

TG is a company. And it would hurt too much Star Alliance.