Thai Airways makes wholesale changes to India service in winter 2013-14

by Vinay Bhaskara

Bangkok based full service carrier Thai Airways International has announced a series of changes in its Indian services in the winter 2013-14 season as per the Airline Route blog

On its Bangkok-Delhi services, beginning 30th September, services will increase from 11 weekly to 14 weekly.

Daytime Thai flights TG323/TG324 will increase from four flights per week to daily using a 299 seat Airbus A330-300 aircraft in a two-class configuration (36J / 263Y). TG-323 departs Bangkok at 07:35, arriving at Delhi at 10:30. The return flight TG-324 departs Delhi at 11:55 arriving at Bangkok at 17:25.

The red-eye flights TG315/TG316 are also seeing an increase, with Boeing 747-400s replacing the existing Boeing 777-300s, an increase from 364 seats (34J / 330 Y) to 374 (49J / 325 Y) or 375 seats (50J / 325 Y), depending on the day. The up-gauge represents a large increase in premium cabin capacity by almost 45% regardless of the 747 configuration used on the route.

TG 315 departs Bangkok at 20:40, arriving at Delhi at 23:40. The return red-eye (overnight) TG 316 departs Delhi at 00:55, arriving at Bangkok at 06:20, in time for connections to Thai's morning departure bank to Asia and Australia. Both flights are operated daily.

Bangkok - Hyderabad was planned to increase from four flights per week to five using the A330-300, but these plans have been shelved, with services remaining at four per week this winter.

The daily Bangkok-Mumbai services have been down-gauged from Boeing 747-400 to Airbus A330-300s for the winter season, a capacity downgrade of around 20% (roughly 35% in premium cabins).

Additionally, Thai's low cost wing Thai Smile, which by January 2014 will serve 19 destinations across India, China, Laos, Macau, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Thailand, is also shaking up its India operations. Thai Smile has a fleet of six 174 seat (30Y+ / 144 Y) Airbus A320-200s with its primary hub at Bangkok and a secondary hub at Phuket. Thai Smile is shifting its flight numbers to and from India, and increasing services as well.

Flight Number Changes

• Bankgok-Ahmedabad flights are shifting from TG 765/766 to TG 2935/2936
• Phuket-Delhi flights are shifting from TG 761/762 to TG 2931/2932
• Phuket-Mumbai flights are shifting from TG 763/764 to TG 2933/2934

Frequency Increases

• Bangkok-Ahmedabad increases from two to four weekly flights
• Phuket-Delhi increases from two to four weekly flights
• Phuket-Mumbai increases from two to three weekly flights

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AirAsia shifts Bangkok operations from Suvarnabhumi to Don Mueang airports

In a move that will lose it international passengers arriving in to Thailand, AirAsia, has shifted its operations at Bangkok from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to the old Don Mueang International Airport today.

AirAsia’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Tony Fernandes commented

“I am extremely happy with our move to Don Mueang International Airport, which is probably Thailand’s biggest and first low cost airport. Operating out of low cost airports has always been something that we have been fighting long and hard for.” “Less congestion and shorter taxi time will result in less fuel consumption and less delays.”

Photo: AirAsia

Mr. Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia, revealed that on the night of 30 September, AirAsia began transferring its fleet of 22 Airbus A320s from Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Don Mueang International Airport over a period of eight hours; starting from 20:00 up to 04:00. All other equipment, including baggage carts and passenger steps were transferred within 24 hours.

AirAsia is hoping to benefit from a less congested terminal at the new airport, as well as its proximity to central Bangkok. While this will give the carrier an edge for Bangkok based passengers, it will lose a lucrative market of international passengers who arrive and depart at Suvarnabhumi airport and transit to and from the many cities within Thailand and other ASEAN destinations.

AirAsia flights with flight codes FD, AK and QZ will operate over 160 flights per day from Don Mueang, to over 77 destinations across Thailand, Asia and Australia. AirAsia is expecting to carry eight million passengers in 2012 to and from Bangkok.

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No international arrival lounge at Bangkok hub degrades Thai premium passenger experience

Just completed an eight segment trip that took me from Bangalore to Thailand and Korea on Thai Airways.

Thai Airways has upgraded its daily Bangalore Bangkok service to Boeing 777-200ERs, five times a week, the other two days remaining an Airbus A330-300.

The Thai B772ERs are equipped with the lay-flat Recaro seats in business class in a 2-2-2 configuration with an AVOD (Audio Video On Demand) in-flight entertainment system. This allows Thai to offer a similar cabin product as its other Star Alliance partner and competitor at Bangalore, Singapore Airlines.

I was impressed by the extremely good service of the cabin crew across all the flights, including domestic (flew both business and economy). Something hard to do, as I have been spoilt over the years by being an uber-frequent flyer of Singapore Airlines.

One area that Thai Airways fails, and rather spectacularly is at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport, its home base. Virtually all the Star Alliance member airlines and even SkyTeam and oneworld members, based out of Europe and Asia, offer some form of arrivals lounge for their international premium passengers. These lounges offer a much desired, sometimes much needed, shower facility, basic breakfast, and for those us addicted to tobacco, some form of smoking room if not in the lounge, nearby.

At Suvarnabhumi airport, Thai Airways operates no less than seven lounges and a separate spa, none of them in the international arrivals area. With the exception of one lounge, in the domestic concourse, all the other lounges and the spa are in the international departures area, which is inaccessible unless you are connecting to another international flight from Bangkok on the same day.

Consequently, premium passengers arriving in Bangkok on Thai are denied this small bit of relaxation and comfort. A rude and unhelpful Airports of Thailand staff, only further degrades an arriving passenger's euphoria after a flight with good on-board service.

The lounge in the domestic concourse while decent, is a far cry from its cousins in the international departures area, and offers no shower facilities. If you have a six hour connection like I did, you have no choice but to sit and stew in your stinky sweat, and due to local laws, there is no smoking permitted anywhere in the domestic concourse.

One can only wonder why the airline has chosen such an imabalanced lounge infrastructure at its home base. An imbalance that degrades the airline's otherwise Smooth as silk service experience for hard to obtain premium class passengers.

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Travel advisory: Bangkok airport duty free scam

The BBC reports

"Now new allegations have been made that a number of passengers are being detained every month in the duty free area on suspicion of shoplifting, and then held by the police until they pay large sums of money to buy their freedom."

and goes on to describe how the scam works on its website, and includes a story of how two British visitors were allegedly victimized, a story first reported by The Times newspaper back on June 28th.

This is not a new scam. Back in April, an Indian traveller was detained in Bangkok in very similar circumstances for allegedly stealing a box of cigarettes from a duty-free shop at Bangkok International Airport. While in jail, his relatives requested help from the Indian Embassy but were told the embassy was unable to assist. He had to pay almost $1,000 to secure his release.

Apparently the scam now called ZigZag, has being victimising many Asians regularly, and letters and phone calls to the Thai authorities are routinely ignored. Now that the scam has hit a few western travellers, the pot has boiled over.

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All Thai Airways Bangkok flights from Suvarnabhumi airport by month end

Thai Airways International has announced it will stop using the old Don Mueang airport at Bangkok from end of March. It will operate all flights from the new Suvarnabhumi Airport also at Bangkok.

Thai Airways has been under tremendous financial pressure, and the state-owned carrier is expected to save about $16.5 million annually in salaries and operational costs.

Thai said it would inform the public regarding the move by March 15 to prevent confusion among passengers over the relocation of flights.

The airline's ground equipment at Don Mueang will be removed beginning next Friday March 13th, and only chartered flights will continue to use the old airport.

Thai could still use Don Mueang in case an emergency landing is needed and if the new Suvarnabhumi airport is unavailable. By declaring Don Mueang as an alternate airport, the carrier is also expected to save fuel costs for its short distance (less than 1 hour) flights.

The Indian Civil Aviation ministry can learn a lesson from this move for the old airports at Bangalore (HAL) and Hyderabad (Begumpet) and help save Indian carriers some fuel.

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AirAsia offering 100,000 free seats to Thailand

Budget carrier AirAsia is offering 100,000 free seats to/from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport, and Phuket in Thailand, to lure back foreign visitors after a siege of Bangkok's airports by anti-government protesters.

Seats in the "Mai Phen Rai Thailand" promotion are available for three days between Wednesday 17 December and Friday 19 December, and cover services from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Jakarta, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Vietnam, as well as from Thailand itself.

One hundred thousand tickets on AirAsia will be issued and are valid between Jan. 6 and March 31, 2009, the discount airline said. Passengers have to pay any taxes and fees.

For full details of this offer click here, or visit the AirAsia website and choose country as Thailand.

"Thailand is a great place in the world to visit. I am optimistic," the airline's chief executive officer Tony Fernandes told reporters in Bangkok late Tuesday.

Protesters lifted an eight-day siege of Bangkok's international and domestic airports on December 3. The blockade left around 350,000 passengers stranded in the country and images of exhausted tourists sleeping on baggage check-in belts led to predictions that tourist numbers could fall by half next year.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said AirAsia's free seats campaign would help draw foreign visitors back to the country faster and boost the Thai economy next next year.

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Bangkok airports welcome first flights after siege

Declaring victory, thousands of anti-government protesters in Thailand today ended their siege of country's two main airports allowing landing of the first international flight in eight days, bringing relief to over three hundred thousand stranded passengers including Indians.

Thousands of protesters came out of the Suvarnabhumi international airport in cars and trucks ending the siege prompted by the decision of country's Constitutional Court which dissolved the three parties of the ruling coalition for committing electoral fraud and barred the prime minister Somchai Wongsawat for five years from active politics.

Similar scenes were witnessed at the domestic Don Muang airport which was also held by the protesters.

The departure of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) activists from the two airports ended the country's immediate crisis. The siege had severed Thailand's air links to the outside world for a week, and stranded more than 300,000 tourists.

The airport today welcomed its first commercial airliner from Thai Airways from the resort island of Phuket at 1245 IST (0715 GMT). Six Thai Airways flights are scheduled to leave Suvarnabhumi later today for New Delhi, Tokyo, Sydney, Frankfurt, Copenhagen and Seoul.

There was jubilation all around after the end of the siege with taxi drivers and Thai Airport staff welcoming the arrival of passengers from the flight.

A meeting among the three ousted parties today endorsed Deputy Prime Minister Chaowarat Chandeerakul as the caretaker prime minister.

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Bangkok update: most airlines prepare for Dec 5 resumption

All international airlines operating to Bangkok, are preparing to resume operations to Suvarnabhumi International Airport by December 5th.

Airlines are waiting for Thai officials to certify the airports are ready for operations. Inspection of systems at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport will begin today.

Most airlines indicate they will be able to resume flights on December 5th, subject to the Thai authorities giving the go-ahead.

It is estimate that about 400,000 travelers travellers have been stranded , due to the siege of Asia's fourth-busiest airfield and paralyzed Thailand's tourism industry at its peak season, keeping 750 flights a day from using the airport.

Most passengers are advised to contact their respective airlines. For ready reference I am putting some links to the "Bangkok status" pages of the most common airlines at Bangkok.

• Thai Airways
• Singapore Airlines
• Cathay Pacific
• All Nippon Airways
• Japan Airlines
• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
• Deutsche Lufthansa
• Air France
• British Airways
  
• Jet Airways - No information
• Air India - No information
• United Airlines
• Northwest Airlines - No information
• Finnair
• Qantas - No information
• Malaysian Airlines - No information
• China Airlines
• Air China
• Korean Airlines
• Emirates
  

The Tourism Authority of Thailand, gives listing hotels taking part in the compensation scheme, and also supplies contact numbers for airline carriers and foreign embassies. I remind travelers that the Thai Foreign Ministry has arranged for 2000 Thai baht (around $55) compensation for stranded foreign nationals, available at hotels that are members of the Thai Hotel Association

This is list is not complete, but I hope it helps. I urge passengers to contact their airlines' offices for the last and up to date details.

Please post your experiences as comments.

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Bangkok flights to resume by December 3rd and 5th

The Telegraph is reporting "the leader of a group of anti-government protesters in Thailand says the week-long siege of Bangkok's airports will end on Wednesday morning."

The blockade of Bangkok airport will end on Wednesday (December 3) after a court in Thailand dissolved the ruling party and banned the prime minister Somchai Wongsawat from office for five years, but the first flights out of the country will not leave until Friday (December 5).

There was some confusion initially about the re-opening date, since Thai officials had earlier said, the airport would not reopen for commercial flights before Dec. 15.

Airport authority chairman Vudhibhandhu Vichairatana said he inspected the airport and found no damage, and brought forward the date. The Associated Press reports also confirm the December 3rd and 5th dates.

The report goes on to state "A government official said the first flights out of Suvarnabhumi international airport will leave for Rome and Sydney on Dec 5, bringing to an end seven days of misery for tourists who have been unable to leave the country.

Image courtesy AP
People's Alliance for Democracy leader Sondhi Limthongkul said on Tuesday that thousands of protesters who have been camped at Suvarnabhumi international airport and the domestic Don Muang airport will leave by Wednesday morning.

"The People's Alliance for Democracy has agreed to cease protesting after a long-running 192-day campaign. We have won a victory and achieved our aims," said Mr Limthongkul, reading a statement to reporters.

"All protests will stop as of December 3 at 10am (0300 GMT)."

The announcements came hours after Thailand's top Constitutional Court court ruling brought down Thailand's government. A court dissolved Thailand's top three ruling parties for electoral fraud and banned the prime minister from politics for five years, bringing down a government that has faced months of strident protests seeking its ouster.

The nation's Constitutional Court ruling set the stage for thousands of protesters to end their week-long siege of the country's two main airports, but also raised fears of retaliatory violence by supporters of the government, which could sink the country deeper into crisis.

Government spokesman Nattawut Sai-kau said Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and his six-party coalition would step down. Mr Somchai, who has been working from the northern city of Chiang Mai since Wednesday, accepted the ruling.

It remains to be seen how airlines will transition from their relief flights to Utaphao airport back to Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport. For the thousands of stranded passengers, the pain will last just a little longer.

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Jet Airways relief flights to Utaphao for stranded Bankok passengers

Just received an update from Jet Airways, indicating it has mounted relief operations for transporting stranded passengers at Bangkok, due to the political unrest in Thailand and consequent closure of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Since Wednesday, 26 November, 2008, Jet Airways is operating relief flights into and out of Utaphao (U TaPao IATA:UTP), a naval base airport in Thailand, from its gateway points Mumbai and Kolkata.

Having deployed Boeing 737-800 aircraft for these operations, Jet Airways has uplifted close to 1000 passengers until date, and is currently reviewing the situation in order to plan subsequent flights, in the days to come.

The schedule of these relief flights is currently as follows:

9W 162 Dep Mumbai 1200hrs Arr Utaphao 1800hrs
9W 161 Dep Utaphao 2000hrs Arr Mumbai 2300hrs

9W 166 Dep Kolkata 1800hrs Arr Utaphao 2215hrs
9W 165 Dep Utaphao 0001hrs Arr Kolkata 0115hrs

(All times local)

For the convenience of its customers, Jet Airways' has also set up a coordination cell, for managing the bookings and handling of its stranded travellers. Customers wanting to travel out of Thailand may call the Jet Airways Bangkok city office to register themselves on telephone number +66 2 696 8980 (local dial 02 696 8980).

Jet Airways will advise all registered customers details of reporting time and place for its complimentary bus service to Utaphao airport, a 2 hour journey from Bangkok. Priority in confirming bookings will be given based on the customer's original flight date.

Based on the current flight schedules ex-Utaphao the bus timings are 2 pm for the Mumbai bound and 5 pm for the Kolkata bound customers respectively.

Jet Airways customers have the option of visiting the Jet Airways website for updated information.

In addition, Jet Airways has announced the waiver of cancellation/reissue charges on all confirmed tickets issued for travel into and out of Bangkok on Jet Airways flights up to the travel date of 05 December, 2008 and will allow involuntary rerouting without any penalties/additional charges for customers affected by its cancelled flights.

Jet Airways will further assist stranded customers in Bangkok who are able to travel out of airports such as Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or Hong Kong, by accepting their Bangkok -India flight coupons for use on those flights. However, any transfer costs from Bangkok to those airports will be at their own cost.

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Air France KLM flights to Phuket instead of Bangkok

As per a press release Air France and KLM will operate "rescue" flights to Phuket on 1 and 2 December from Amsterdam and Paris-CDG respectively.

Due to the closure of Bankok's Suvarnabhumi international airport, Air France and KLM will operate one flight on 1st December and one flight on 2 December 2008 from Phuket Airport.

Departure from Phuket on 1 December:
Boeing 747-400 flight operated by KLM to Amsterdam
Departure from Phuket: 7pm
Arrival in Amsterdam: 4am on the next day.

Departure from Phuket on 2 December:
Boeing 747-400 flight operated by Air France to Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Departure from Phuket: 11:30pm on 2 December.
Arrival in Paris: 5:50am on the next day.

All passengers holding an Air France or KLM ticket may take one or other flight. For passengers booked on one of these flights, Air France and KLM will arrange for a bus transfer from Bangkok to Phuket (please contact Air France/KLM Agency in Bangkok).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

- IN THAILAND: CONTACT THE AIR FRANCE/KLM AGENCY IN BANGKOK: Vorawat Building 20th floor 849 Silom Road or the Call Center: 66 (0)2635 11 91

- IN FRANCE: 3654

LOG ON TO THE AIRFRANCE WEBSITE

Air France is keeping a close watch on the situation and will keep customers informed of any changes to the flight schedule in the next few days.

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U.S. Embassy message on Bangkok airport situation

banThe US Embassy in Bangkok has posted this message on its website. However, many Americans have been complaining about the unhelpful nature of the embassy staff. More importantly are some contact numbers that may be helpful.

American citizens travelling or living in Thailand should be aware that the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has entered and forced the closure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports in Bangkok. All incoming and outgoing flights have been cancelled. We do not know when flights will resume. While we have conveyed our deep concern with these closures to the Thai authorities and remain hopeful that the airports will reopen in the near future, ultimately it is a situation that can only be resolved by those involved.

The Thai Foreign Ministry has arranged for credited compensation for stranded foreign travelers. This compensation consists of 2000 Thai baht credit per day for hotels and meals at those hotels. It is our understanding that this credit is available at any hotel in Bangkok (guest houses and serviced apartments are not included). Americans who have been unable to depart because their flight was cancelled due to the closure of the airports should show a copy of their passport and air ticket to the hotel front desk for the 2000 baht per day credit to be deducted from their bill.

We have been informed that airlines are working on arranging flights out of alternative airports in Thailand; however, we do not have confirmed details at this time. The Ministry of Tourism has stated that they are trying to implement this plan within 48 hours.

These airport closures have, unfortunately, left a large number of Americans in Thailand unable to leave the country as planned. It is unclear when normal flight operations will resume. Americans in Thailand, or those with plans to travel to or transit Thailand, should monitor local media and contact airlines for the latest departure/arrival information. We understand the inconvenience this places on American travelers to Thailand and we continue to monitor the situation very closely.

In addition, the following numbers may be helpful for those who find themselves stranded by airport closures:

Ministry of Tourism Aid Center: 1414, 02-356-0720, 02-356-0729

ATTA (Association of Thai Travel Agents): 02-134-4263

Thai tourist police emergency line: 1155

Suvarnabhumi International Airport hotline: 02-132-1882, 02-132-1888

Suvarnabhumi International Airport flight inquiries: 02-132-0000, 02-132-9328-9

Don Muang Airport: 02-535-1669

Don Muang Flight inquiries: 02-535-1616

Tourism Authority of Thailand: 02-652-8313-4

We wish to remind American citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. American citizens are therefore urged to avoid areas of demonstrations, and to exercise caution within the vicinity of any demonstrations.

The Embassy is located at 95 Wireless Road in Bangkok. The Embassy website can be visited at http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/embassy/wwc/recent.htm. The American Citizen Services Unit of the U.S. Embassy can be reached by phone at 66-2-205-4049 and by e-mail at ACSBKK@State.gov. The after-hours emergency telephone number is 66-2-205-4000.

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U-Tapao airport offers meager relief to Bangkok passengers

The tiny U-Tapao Airport (UTP), also spelled Utapao and U-Taphao, is a public airport serving Rayong, a city in Thailand. Primarily a naval aviation base, it is approximately 90 miles (140 km) southeast of Bangkok, near Sattahip on the Gulf of Siam. It south of route 3 (Thanon Sukhumvit) at km 189, about a 45 minute drive from Pattaya (Thailand's most popular beach resort).

U-Tapao has become sole, if meager and hellish ray of hope for the thousands of desperate passengers stranded in Bangkok due the forced closure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports by the P.A.D. movement in Thailand.

Thai Airways International announced that it will provide 31 special flights to and from U-Tapao Airport to serve stranded tourists. It said 18 flights will leave the airport and 13 flights will land at the airport.

The Thai release said tourists must check in at the Centara Grande Hotel at Central World five hours before departure. Passengers, who arrive on the 13 in-bound flights, will be transferred to the Centara Grande, it said.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has activated a contingency plan to cater for its passengers stranded in Bangkok due to the closure of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

In a statement, MAS director of operations Datuk Tajuden Abu Bakar said, "Instead of operating out of Bangkok, we have temporarily shifted our flight operations to the U-Tapao International airport. This alternative is in addition to our twice daily flights from Phuket which is also open on seat-available basis to our ticket holding passengers who wish to travel out of Thailand. However, customers will have to reach U-Tapao on their own. Likewise customers who wish to travel on any one of our twice daily flights from Phuket will also have to make it to the island resort on their own," he added.

Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA) said yesterday it would organise a special flight to U-Tapao to pick up tourists stranded by the protests.

The Singapore airlines website informs that, "Singapore Airlines is operating a twice-daily service between U-Tapao and Singapore up till Wednesday, 3 December. A decision will be made in due course on operations beyond Wednesday depending on the situation and continuing demand."

"Flights are planned to depart U-Tapao at 14:00 and 19:00 local time. However, facilities at U-Tapao are very basic and the airport is heavily congested, so customers should be prepared for lengthy delays."

U-Tapao airport was jam-packed with foreign tourists waiting to catch a flight home. Airport authorities, say it was a major chore to process so many travellers due to the lack of adequate facilities.

There was a 2 km long queue of traffic into the airport compound and we witnessed many passengers, worried about missing their flights, abandoning their transport and walking with their baggage the final kilometre in the afternoon sun. At the airport they were greeted with the sight of an enormous throng of people and baggage everywhere.

"It's complete chaos and pandemonium," said Bonnie Chan, 29, from San Diego, California.

"We've been given incorrect information from the airlines. The US embassy says they can't help us. We're high and dry. The airlines keep giving us the run-around."

While there is runway and taxiway space, the terminal facilities are woefully inadequate since the navy-owned airport is mainly designed for military purposes. It can service only around 200 people a flight. There are only four check-in counters, two x-ray machines, six counters for customs services, one belt for arriving passengers and one crane to lift luggage into the planes.

The airport is normally reserved for charter flights and Bangkok Airways and usually serves only a few flights a day. But since the the seizure of Suvarnabhumi airport by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the number of travellers has increased dramatically to 3,000 people a day, with 12 departures and 16 arrivals, mostly international flights.

AFP Image
A local hotel even provided dancing girls who tried in vain to cheer thousands of travellers as they tried to flee protest-hit Thailand.

Authorities had laid on extra toilet facilities and refreshments but for those with a long wait, camping outside the airport building was just one more of a long series of inconveniences, especially for those who had been stranded in Thailand for the last 4 days or more, and all of them, "just wanting to get home."

Images courtesy Pattaya Daily News and Wikipedia

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Protesters close Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport, flights diverted

Rampaging anti-government protesters forced the closure of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Thailand's main international airport, Tuesday.

Photo:Wason Wanichakorn / Associated Press
Thousands of supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in a bid to pressure the current government to resign, breached police lines and stormed the airport, as a second day of demonstrations in Bangkok descended into violence with 11 injured in clashes

Airport director Saereerat Prasutanont claimed to have no option but to close down the airport, as the protesters broke the door on the fourth floor of the terminal and stormed into the departure lounge.

Tourism a major industry in Thailand has been badly disrupted. Along with thousands of tourists stranded, flights of most airlines were either diverted to alternate airports, or canceled.

Reuters reports, Bangkok's shiny new airport resembled the aftermath of an all-night rock concert as thousands of confused people wandered aimlessly in search of food and help while others, wrapped in beach towels, slept where they could.

With the $4 billion terminal besieged by anti-government protesters, forcing the cancellation of all flights on Wednesday, foreign tourists had little option but to bed down on benches, behind check-in desks, even on luggage carousels.

PTI reports, four flights of Indian carriers to Bangkok were diverted today. Two Air India flights to Bangkok, one from Delhi (IC-853) and another from Mumbai (IC-693), were diverted and landed at Utapao airport, about 90 nautical miles off Bangkok. An Air India spokesperson said the passengers were then transferred by road to Bangkok.

Photo:Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press
Jet Airways flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Bangkok, 9W-064 and 9W-062, were, diverted back to Kolkata, from where they returned to their originating points of Delhi and Mumbai, an airline spokesperson said.

Outbound flights at the Bangkok airport were also affected since last night as hundreds of demonstrators -- some masked and armed with metal rods -- broke through police lines and spilled into the passenger terminal, reports said.

Using trucks and cars, anti-government demonstrators cut off highway access to the airport, the transportation hub for millions of tourists who visit the country each year, the reports added.

Jonathan Head of the BBC reports that the protesters, while well behaved, appear well planned and well organised. They have taken over the airport's control tower as well.

Videos show the level of mayhem on the streets and the airport, which was inaugurated less than two years ago.

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