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.

Singapore Airlines has announced a new low fare sale from India to select destinations in South East Asia and Australia.

As per the ad in today's Times of India, Bangalore edition, the fares round-trip ex-Bangalore to Singapore is INR 16,830, Denpasar/Bali/Kuala Lumpur/Penang/Langkawi/Kuching/Bangkok INR 23,980, Sydney/Perth/Brisbane/Melbourne/Adelaide INR 41,350. These include taxes and surcharges.

Fares are for economy class travel. Tickets must be purchased by January 15, 2009 and will be valid for travel from December 29, 2008 to March 31, 2009 for Singapore and South-East Asia and from February 01, 2009 to June 30, 2009 for the Australian destinations.

Similar offers are available from other Singapore Airlines cities in India.

One can also expect SQ's competitors, Malaysia Airlines, Thai Airways, and Jet Airways, to follow suit.

Since the travel agents' boycott of Singapore Airlines commences today, I recommend Bangalore Aviation readers to visit the Singapore Airline website.

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.

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

Thai Airways International has revised its checked baggage policy for flights to and from USA and Canada.

Effective 1 December 2008, the free baggage allowance for passengers traveling with Thai will be as follows:

Royal First Class and Royal Silk Class passengers receive a free baggage allowance of two pieces. The weight of each piece should not exceed 32 kgs (70 lbs) and linear measurement (length+width+height) should not exceed 158 cms (62 inches).

Passengers traveling in economy class are given a free baggage allowance of two pieces. The weight of each item should not exceed 23 kgs (50 lbs) and linear measurement of each piece not more than 158 linear cms (62 inches).

The charge for extra baggage exceeding the above allowance will be charged at US$119 per piece effective from 1 January 2009.

Royal Orchid Plus Gold Card members will enjoy the privilege of one extra baggage on top of the regular allowance in any class of travel.