Phuket and Krabi Airports Reopened

[lopburi3]

Phuket airport reopened

Phuket - The Phuket International Airport resumed operations Sunday afternoon.

The first flight landed at the airport at 3:30 pm.

The Nation

[lopburi3]

Bangkok Post News

Protesters dispersed and authorities reopened the airports at Phuket and Krabi in the South on Sunday, Airports of Thailand announced.

Authorities said up to 15,000 passengers have been stranded at the airport on the southern resort isle of Phuket - the gem of Thai tourism. Several thousand more missed their flights at Krabi.

continued http://www.bangkokpost.com/breaking_news/b...s.php?id=130199

[davehowden]

THE BBC's Report

Thai leader fends off calls for his resignation

By GRANT PECK – 49 minutes ago

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) — Facing chaotic street protests demanding his resignation, Thailand's embattled prime minister turned to lawmakers Sunday to find a way out of the crisis, but ended up having to fend off his critics' calls to step down or call new elections.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej went before a special joint session of Parliament to find a solution to the deepening crisis, even as thousands of right-wing protesters laid siege to his office compound for a sixth night and threatened to shut down more airports and roads in the country.

The debate ended early Monday after about 11 hours with scores of lawmakers either lambasting Samak or defending him. More than 1,000 government supporters staged a spirited but peaceful counter rally in front of Parliament.

Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the opposition Democrat Party, proposed that Samak dissolve Parliament and call new elections.

"Dissolving Parliament is a way for the government to show responsibility. If you don't want to take the responsibility on your own (by resigning), take all of Parliament members with you (by dissolving it)," Abhisit said.

Samak replied: "I will not resign or dissolve Parliament. I will not be defeated by those protesters.

"Don't you feel ashamed? Our image as far as the rest of the world sees us will be destroyed. I am the one who has taken the helm of the country, the decision should be mine," he said.

Samak received key backing Saturday from his ruling six-party coalition, which said it would not back calls for dissolving Parliament to call new elections. The coalition controls more than two-thirds of the seats in the 480-seat lower house.

The group leading the protesters, the People's Alliance for Democracy, has expressed little interest in the lawmakers' debate.

Chamlong Srimuang, one of the protest leaders, dismissed the debate as "a cheap joke," saying it was too late for lawmakers to appease the protesters.

"People don't care about what's happening in Parliament," he said, repeating demands for Samak to resign. "Their meeting has nothing to do with us."

The group began its occupation of the Government House compound on Tuesday and has blocked streets in the capital. It has had allies in state enterprise unions disrupt rail and air services around the country through strikes and blockades.

Its leader for the southern provinces, Sunton Raksarong, threatened Sunday to have the group shut down seven airports in his region — which serve thousands of foreign tourists everyday — if the government imposes emergency rule.

Three airports were closed by protest blockades Friday night, with the busiest, at the popular tourist destination of Phuket, reopening only on Sunday.

Sunton threatened to block major roads to the South. Some roads in the south, north and northeast were temporarily blocked last week.

The protest organizers accuse Samak's government of corruption and being a proxy for ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 bloodless military coup sparked by the alliance's protests. Thaksin recently fled to Britain to escape corruption charges.

Samak led Thaksin's political allies to a December 2007 election victory, and their assumption of power triggered speculation that Thaksin would make a political comeback on the strength of his continued popularity with Thailand's rural majority, which benefited from his generous social welfare programs.

The alliance and their sympathizers — monarchists, the military and the urban elite — complain that Western-style democracy of one-man, one-vote gives too much weight to Thailand's rural majority, whom they consider susceptible to vote buying that breeds corruption.

They want a roll back of Thailand's democratic gains of the post-1973 dictatorship era to make Parliament a body in which most lawmakers are appointed and only 30 percent elected.

Protester Thanyalak Genawicharana, 63, a retired teacher from Bangkok, said he was willing to put up with even more difficulties than camping out in cramped, wet conditions at Government House to bring Samak down. He said he was "one among millions of people who can drive out this corrupt government."

"I hate Samak and I hate Thaksin," he said.

[robee]

Phuket airport reopened

Phuket - The Phuket International Airport resumed operations Sunday afternoon.

The first flight landed at the airport at 3:30 pm.

The Nation

news reports chiang mai open now as well

[regfrancis]

Good luck to the PAD, they will need it if they think they can roll back to a post 1973 style dictatorship, maybe they are liveing in a time warp.

[Soontorn]

Protesters misunderstood by Western media?

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2008/09/01/t...-western-media/

[NBT TV Phuket]

MiniVDO: Interview Simon, Owner PhuketAirport Hotel & 2 Australian guests during protest blockade

is now on http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...php?news_id=583

or

We spoke on Saturday afternoon to Simon, a foreign Tourist Police volunteer who is also the Phuket Hotel Airport Manager, who helped since the beginning of the protest (including many eyewitness reports on Thaivisa.com forum) . Let's hear what his experience was: ........... We also talked to 2 Australian tourists who got stuck at the airport and stayed at Simon's hotel on Saturday. They said they were heading for a family function in the Philippines and hoped that the airport re-opened in time, as they told us more: ----- Contact: [email protected]

--------------

MiniVDO: Phuket International Airport's flights finally restarted yesterday after it was shut down for 2 days due to PAD protests.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...php?news_id=584

or

(includes footage of first blockades & reopening of gates)

The Thai Airways International Flight TG 213 touched down at Phuket International Airport at 3.47 pm yesterday bringing relief for officials and local tourism sectors, but more importantly tourists & passengers who got delayed by the protest which started on Friday afternoon. It was approximately 47 hours before the flights were allowed to take off and land at the airport after the facility was forced to shut down since 4.45 pm on Friday August 29th . The flight carried about 330 passengers, including Phuket Governor Niran Galanamitr who had gone to Bangkok to attend and receives flags under the national activities called "116 Days from Mother's Day to Father's Day" and got stuck there.

Less than an hour later, the Thai Airways flight TG 214 took off for Bangkok's Suwannaphum airport with a full load of passengers, showing a sign of normal flights restarting as scheduled at the airport.

The PAD had announced that they stopped their protest at Phuket Airport at 3.30pm on Sunday. After the statement they helped open the gate of the airport. The statement however insisted that their members would return if the government applied violence. The members said they will travel to Bangkok to support others in pressurizing the Prime Minister to resign.

Meanwhile, a Phuket International Airport press release reported that since the closure of 29 August, until 11am today 31 August, a total of 181 flights from 11 airlines and about 30,000 passengers had been delayed. Among these, 13,000 were out-going, with 17,000 in-coming. Around 137 tonnes of cargo goods could not be transported. Thai Airways International was most affected as it had 21 flights per day. The Phuket Tourist Association president Somboon Jirayus estimated the damage caused at up to approx. 250 million baht per day with ongoing effects, as safety is a sensitive issue for travelers.

The PAD members gathered in front of Phuket International Airport at around 2pm on Friday 29th August, demanding that the Prime Minister resign and the violence was used. The protest ended yesterday afternoon.

----------

MiniVDO: Most flights at Krabi airport resumed their normal schedule yesterday.

The Krabi International Airport has also re-opened since Sunday morning with TG flights going out and coming in. The Air Asia flights from Krabi to K.L. at midday was canceled while the afternoon flights resumed as normal.

Protesters stopped before midday while the airport also imposed tighter security. At present, due to the low season, Krabi airport only serves about 5-6 flights per day, among them Air Asia's flight between Malaysia's KL and Krabi. Passengers can contact the airport at Tel 075 636541-2

Andaman News NBT (VHF dial) + FM90.5 Radio Thailand at 8.30am & perhaps relays/repeats on local Cable TV channel 1, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, & possibly FM108 Mazz Radio 7.30pm in Phuket, Monday 1 September 2008 & http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/ Send comments to [email protected]

[Scott]

I am glad they are reopened. What has the affect been on arrivals to the islands?

[LeungKen]

MiniVDO: Interview Simon, Owner PhuketAirport Hotel & 2 Australian guests during protest blockade

is now on http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...php?news_id=583

or

We spoke on Saturday afternoon to Simon, a foreign Tourist Police volunteer who is also the Phuket Hotel Airport Manager, who helped since the beginning of the protest (including many eyewitness reports on Thaivisa.com forum) . Let's hear what his experience was: ........... We also talked to 2 Australian tourists who got stuck at the airport and stayed at Simon's hotel on Saturday. They said they were heading for a family function in the Philippines and hoped that the airport re-opened in time, as they told us more: ----- Contact: [email protected]

--------------

MiniVDO: Phuket International Airport's flights finally restarted yesterday after it was shut down for 2 days due to PAD protests.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...php?news_id=584

or

(includes footage of first blockades & reopening of gates)

The Thai Airways International Flight TG 213 touched down at Phuket International Airport at 3.47 pm yesterday bringing relief for officials and local tourism sectors, but more importantly tourists & passengers who got delayed by the protest which started on Friday afternoon. It was approximately 47 hours before the flights were allowed to take off and land at the airport after the facility was forced to shut down since 4.45 pm on Friday August 29th . The flight carried about 330 passengers, including Phuket Governor Niran Galanamitr who had gone to Bangkok to attend and receives flags under the national activities called "116 Days from Mother's Day to Father's Day" and got stuck there.

Less than an hour later, the Thai Airways flight TG 214 took off for Bangkok's Suwannaphum airport with a full load of passengers, showing a sign of normal flights restarting as scheduled at the airport.

The PAD had announced that they stopped their protest at Phuket Airport at 3.30pm on Sunday. After the statement they helped open the gate of the airport. The statement however insisted that their members would return if the government applied violence. The members said they will travel to Bangkok to support others in pressurizing the Prime Minister to resign.

Meanwhile, a Phuket International Airport press release reported that since the closure of 29 August, until 11am today 31 August, a total of 181 flights from 11 airlines and about 30,000 passengers had been delayed. Among these, 13,000 were out-going, with 17,000 in-coming. Around 137 tonnes of cargo goods could not be transported. Thai Airways International was most affected as it had 21 flights per day. The Phuket Tourist Association president Somboon Jirayus estimated the damage caused at up to approx. 250 million baht per day with ongoing effects, as safety is a sensitive issue for travelers.

The PAD members gathered in front of Phuket International Airport at around 2pm on Friday 29th August, demanding that the Prime Minister resign and the violence was used. The protest ended yesterday afternoon.

----------

MiniVDO: Most flights at Krabi airport resumed their normal schedule yesterday.

The Krabi International Airport has also re-opened since Sunday morning with TG flights going out and coming in. The Air Asia flights from Krabi to K.L. at midday was canceled while the afternoon flights resumed as normal.

Protesters stopped before midday while the airport also imposed tighter security. At present, due to the low season, Krabi airport only serves about 5-6 flights per day, among them Air Asia's flight between Malaysia's KL and Krabi. Passengers can contact the airport at Tel 075 636541-2

Andaman News NBT (VHF dial) + FM90.5 Radio Thailand at 8.30am & perhaps relays/repeats on local Cable TV channel 1, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, & possibly FM108 Mazz Radio 7.30pm in Phuket, Monday 1 September 2008 & http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/ Send comments to [email protected]

Why is this post on 2 threads ?

Now that the problems at Phuket airport are over NBT seem to making their presence felt. Where were they when many posters needed information ?

[george]

Carriers restart Singapore-Phuket route after airport reopens

PHUKET: -- Singapore Airlines were resuming their service between Singapore and the popular Thai holiday island of Phuket after the facility reopened following its closure by anti-government demonstrators, a newspaper report said.

Tiger Air and Air Asia planned to resume their service Monday, The Straits Times reported.

SilkAir became the first to reopen the route, resuming its flights Sunday night and upping its regularly scheduled single evening flight between Singapore and Phuket to three to ferry its backlog of passengers between the two destinations. It said it would operate its normal schedule of five flights Monday.

Phuket's international airport reopened Sunday after demonstrators who were calling for Thailand's government to step down raided and closed it Friday. Two other southern Thai international airports, in Krabi and Hat Yai, reopened Saturday.

One Singaporean passenger told the Times she had to pay 2,000 Singapore dollars (1,406 US dollars) in additional hotel and other expenses because of the delay in her departure.

During the Phuket airport's closure, many passengers had to find alternate transport, such as buses, at their own expense to Bangkok to leave the country.

-- dpa 2008-09-01