Every public airport with commercial operations must fulfil strict requirements with respect to international safety and security requirements, including operational readiness of the airport infrastructure and airport personnel qualifications.

These requirements, which are virtually the same for small and large airports and result in high operational costs.

Small airports have problems to break even not only due to low throughput volumes but also limited other sources of income, e.g. non-aeronautical services, car park fees; which are substantial part of middle and large airport revenues.

It is considered that a small airport with annual throughput under 200 000 passengers is not able to cover its operational costs and needs to be subsidized.

41 minutes ago, Sweet Swede said:

I remember that something similar happened 15/20 years ago in Thailand, when a radioactive recourse disappeared.  Can not remember the outcome, but it was in the news for some time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samut_Prakan_radiation_accident

2 hours ago, jabis said:

Yes Thailand also has same charge already - baked into the tickets, 300 baht incoming, 500 baht outgoing - latter was earlier an extra cash fee you had to pay - that was then baked into the ticket prices so that's about 25USD entry and exit fees, now they want to introduce 300 baht more (8 bucks/eur more or less).

Since Feb 2007 the international departure tax is 700 Baht (up from 500) for international departures and 100 Baht (up from 50) for domestic departures.

Kasikorn branch CW closing? Heads up folks!

Last week I went to CW Kasikorn Branch for bank letters as part of the annual extension.

Bank staff told me that the branch might close very soon. The lease has already expired and as of now Kasikorn and the landlord could not agree on a renewal.

I suggest that you give them a call a day before you intend to use the service, to make sure you don’t run into an unpleasant surprise.

2 hours ago, DrJack54 said:

Were your previous reports working on the "old system"

Yes, they were. Never had a problem in the last few years.

Submitted on the old system yesterday morning. Approval came after 8 hrs.

5 hours ago, ukrules said:

There will be many more variants, the more cases there are then the more variants there are,

Here ya go.

https://www.dw.com/en/new-corona-variant-identified-in-france/a-60329823

Date 04.01.2022

New corona variant identified in France

B.1.640.2 was discovered in a traveler returning from Cameroon and has even more mutations than Omicron. And a first "Flurona" case has occurred in Israel.

9 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

In Sweden a testing company got caught making test certificates without actually performing labtest, just collecting money for certificates.

A pharmacy employee in Munich with accomplices has faked hundreds of digital vaccination certificates and sold them on the Internet. 

The fake codes have been offered on a German-language cybercrime forum on the Internet since mid-August. In the end, you had to spend 350 euros to get a digital vaccination card - without having been vaccinated against the coronavirus. In October alone, the counterfeiters have issued more than 500 vaccination certificates.

According to a spokesman at the Nuremberg Public Prosecutor's Office, it is not possible to determine the names of the buyers of the fake codes.

The counterfeiters used the IT infrastructure of the Munich pharmacy.

Magnolia is my fav. Unfortunately, not available everywhere. Runner up Meji.

Thailand AZ 1 shot. 2nd coming in mid-Oct

17 minutes ago, dginoob said:

That would be useful. Thanks, I will check that out.
BTW what is CRIS ALLIANCE?

KrisFlyer. Frequent flyer program of Singapore Airlines 

3 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

RTP have an A350...sweet. At least all this high level attention will likely produce some speedy results. Now if only this must energy was put into apprehending  "Boss."

Sorry mate. That's a Dassault Falcon 2000. The A350 is a "little" bigger.

1 hour ago, RichardColeman said:

 

51 ? Anyone know if 51 people would cover the airline flight costs of the carrier ? 

Nope, it won't. Big airlines require a load factor for a break-even flight between 72.5% and 79.0% .

*ID Card Number refers to Thai ID Card No., Passport Number., or other ID as registered with AIS

Don McLean ... American Pie...1971

Went yesterday for Non-O annual extension.

It wasn't empty, but at least half of the normal crowds pre-covid.

My advice, go after lunch break (2pm).

It was almost empty by then. Perhaps 20 people in the L1/L2 section.

Taxi Mochit-Chaengwattana will set you back 120 THB.

1 hour ago, connda said:

Boy, this one is a real toss up.

Visa issued immediately come to mind.  Where else in the world can you be married to a citizen of the country and have absolutely no path to permanent residency, naturalization, or citizenship?  It's tough.  And if your spouse dies, marriage over, and the extended family you have been supporting become a non-family by legal decree.  Marriage gives you no rights to pursue happiness within the family unit, or a job, or a means of support unlike the West and most other countries around the world - developed and otherwise.

But then we have the things that are not good for your health: choking air pollution, especially in the North, for two to three months out of the year; the number 1 most dangerous roads in the entire world; a highly xenophobic society that barely tolerates foreigners;  and a society where violence is only held in check by the thinnest veneer of social customs, and when that veneer cracks, what emerges is ugly, vile, and dangerous; a place where playing contract bridge or throwing darts, or owning the 'wrong' set of playing cards can get you arrested and tossed into jail.  TIT.  Amazing Thailand. 

Don't get me wrong.  The positives outweigh the negatives.  Otherwise I wouldn't be living here.  But every year the negative keep piling up.  Hopefully in my life-time, the scales don't tip the opposite way. 

Nailed it Connda.

There is no Suvarnaket immigration, but a Thai consulate in Savannakhet (Laos);

Definitely closed on weekends and Thai public holidays (at least).

Also closed on Lao public holidays

http://www.thaisavannakhet.com/savannakhet/th/consulate/contact/

next...skywalk between Chitlom BTS and the Erawan shrine. I see the scammers every day preying on clueless tourists.