Suvarnabhumi Airport In Full Operation On Friday, December 5

[george]

Airport to reopen

Suvarnabhumi International Airport returns to full operations on Friday, December 5, the same day of His Majesty the King's birthday.

BANGKOK: -- Suvarnabhumi International airport in Bangkok will be "open for full services including check-in and immigration" at 11am Friday, Airports of Thailand chief, Serirat Prasutanont declared in a statement.

The airport siege by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) group lasted one week stranding more than 300,000 travellers.

Thai Airways, Bangkok Airways, Singapore Airlines, China Airlines and Japan Airlines have put in requests to resume service, the airport chief said.

Representatives from the International Civil Aviation Organization, the International Air Transport Association and foreign embassies will visit the airport Friday to check on the safety and security of the airport.

An initial inspection found no damage to taxiways, runways and key systems because the PAD demonstrators occupied only the front area of the passenger terminal, according to Civil Aviation Department chief, Chaisak Angsuwan.

Many people are now shifting their attention to His Majesty the King, who will address the nation Thursday on the eve of his 81st birthday.

Many are hoping His Majesty will give guidance for ending the country's political turmoil.

-- Bangkok Post 2008-12-04

[george]

Suvarnabhumi Airport ready to resume full service Friday

SAMUT PRAKAN: -- Suvanabhumi Airport will be fully functional on December 5 from 11am onwards, according to Serirat Prasutanond, director of Suvarnabhumi Airport, after thousands of anti-government protesters ended their siege at the airport on Wednesday.

However, the airport has already opened to serve passengers for inbound and outbound flights Thursday, although outbound passengers must report at temporary check-in counters at the Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC) in Bangna on the eastern approaches to Bangkok.

The check-in counters were moved to BITEC to facilitate passengers departing via U-Tapao, the military airport which temporarily replaced Suvarnabhumi, which was shut down by protesters from November 25 to December 3.

AoT will be able to resume full operation of the check-in counter system on Friday at about 11am.

Mr. Serirat, who is also acting president of the Airports of Thailand (AoT) said that a total of 101 flights from a number of airlines had already informed the airport authorities for their aircraft to land and take off at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

He said that the airport invited officials from many agencies including the Department of Civil aviation, the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the International Air Transport Association and the Airport Operation Committee to observe the airport in operation on Friday morning to ensure passenger safety and security.

-- TNA 2008-12-04

[jts-khorat]

Airport to reopen

Suvarnabhumi International Airport returns to full operations on Friday, December 5, the same day of His Majesty the King's birthday.

This is most welcome news.

[anotheruser]

Thank God for that! My flight on Emirates will be landing on December 6 as scheduled.

[fft100]

Concern mounts at Thai airport security lapses (Airports OF Thailand Public)

By David Fox

BANGKOK, Dec 4 (Reuters) - As Thai authorities race to get Suvarnabhumi

airport ready for full international operations, airline officials and

diplomats fear major security concerns are being overlooked.

They say the ease with which a rag-tag group of anti-government

protesters took over Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports last week exposed

fundamental security problems that need to be addressed.

But with the tourist-dependent Thai economy haemorrhaging revenue as a

result of the airport closures, stakeholders feel they are being pressured into

restarting operations.

On Thursday, Bangkok-based ambassadors of some of Thailand's most

important allies and trading partners issued a joint statement saying they were

"seriously concerned" at the vulnerability to outside assaults of Suvarnabhumi

and the mostly domestic Don Muang airports.

"(We) urge the government of Thailand to take all necessary measures to

improve the protection and security of all Thai airports," said the statement,

signed by Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and

the United States.

Airline representatives in Thailand contacted by Reuters were highly

critical of the response to the airport blockades, how the emergency was dealt

with and efforts to restart operations.

None was willing to be identified. "We have to work here," said one.

"We are under enormous pressure to open -- from the airport authorities,

from stuck passengers, from shareholders, from the tourist industry ...," said

one airline official.

"But our genuine security concerns are being ignored."

Chief among those concerns are the security lapses that allowed a

supposedly state-of-the-art, $4 billion airport, opened just two years ago, to

be overrun in minutes by a few hundred protesters, even if some were armed with

clubs and metal rods.

SECURITY MELTED AWAY

Airport security initially held back the protesters a few hundred metres

(yards) from the terminal, but when pressed, they melted away.

Suvarnabhumi is a key regional hub handling hundreds of flights a day and

over 150,000 passengers. Within minutes the airport was overrun and passengers

watched -- some shocked, some initially bemused -- as the yellow-clad protesters

coursed through the terminal.

"What if they were armed terrorists? What if this was India?" one airline

official asked, referring to the attacks a day later by just 10 Islamic gunmen

in Mumbai that killed 171 people.

Some Thailand watchers justified the lack of response as being typical of

the country's delicate domestic political situation. The authorities couldn't,

or wouldn't, use force against the protesters because of their perceived support

from parts of the royal family.

Airport general manager Serirat Prasutanond, touring Suvarnabhumi on

Wednesday after the protesters finally abandoned their siege, told Reuters:

"They did no damage. They love Thailand."

But such apparently flippant dismissals of security lapses only enrage

those who insist on more professionalism.

"It is a joke," said one Singapore-based industry consultant. "If that

happened here or in Kuala Lumpur, the protesters would have been shot. Whoever

was responsible for security, they would have been shot next."

Airports of Thailand officials say Suvarnabhumi will be fully operational

by Friday afternoon after the massive, sprawling facility has been thoroughly

"sanitised" by security experts.

But operators say it will take a lot more to convince them that security

is as good as it should be.

"In the next few weeks we (foreign operators) are going to be getting

together and making a stand," one industry insider said. "Things absolutely have

to change."

"This situation cannot go on. If a major event takes place now, we will

never be able to say we didn't see it coming, that we couldn't prepare."

(Editing by Alan Raybould) Keywords: THAILAND PROTEST/SECURITY

([email protected]; Reuters Messaging: [email protected];

+66 2 648 9733)

COPYRIGHT

Copyright Thomson Reuters 2008. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including

by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written

consent of Thomson Reuters.

[Merangue]

Don't go by the AOT go by Emirates. Until your flight carrier states themselves that your flight is a GO i would wait to celebrate.

[Tex79]

If the computer terminals and duty free shops were trashed then I would be concerned ....but the fact the airport has been not been trashed by the PAD and the fact that a pelininary inspection has been complete without the slightest issue being raised makes me feel the Bangkok airport is as safe as most... if not all other international airports which are currently operational.

Edited December 4, 2008 by george

[bendix]

Whooooosh

You're completely missing the point Tex. It's not about the security of the goddamn duty free shops . . . . . jeez. Give someone a point, and they're bound to completely miss it.

[ozfarang81]

Look, if 400 protestors came storming suddenly into melbourne airport, or sydney airport... i doubt anyone could stop them either... to be quite honest. cant comment about other countries

[TAWP]

Whooooosh

You're completely missing the point Tex. It's not about the security of the goddamn duty free shops . . . . . jeez. Give someone a point, and they're bound to completely miss it.

The point is that the protesters was in the outer check-in areas as the inner sections was locked and guarded. Hence, the duty free shops, being placed where they are, would be a first indication of protesters had the ability to roam free. It seems they did not. (And possibly didn't even want to. In either case, PAD guards made sure people couldn't get in there.)

So that is a huge difference from protesters doing the same thing in Europe, if they tried it...see any G8-meeting where destruction and looting is the name of the game of the 'spoiled bored leftist kids of the middle class'.

[Farma]

QANTAS plans to resume flights to Bangkok from Saturday.

The airline has been operating its Sydney-Bangkok-London return services through Singapore since Bangkok's international airport was closed eight days ago in anti-government protests which left thousands of travellers stranded.

Qantas executive general manager John Borghetti said today Qantas had received approval from Thai authorities to resume flights and was also undertaking its own operational assessments of the airport.

The first Qantas flight, QF2 London-Bangkok-Sydney, is scheduled to return to Bangkok early on Saturday evening.

It will be followed soon after by QF1 operating northbound from Sydney.

Con't http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0...5003402,00.html

[turbog3]

Concern mounts at Thai airport security lapses (Airports OF Thailand Public)

...

Airline representatives in Thailand contacted by Reuters were highly

critical of the response to the airport blockades, how the emergency was dealt

with and efforts to restart operations.

None was willing to be identified. "We have to work here," said one.

"We are under enormous pressure to open -- from the airport authorities,

from stuck passengers, from shareholders, from the tourist industry ...," said

one airline official.

"But our genuine security concerns are being ignored."

Chief among those concerns are the security lapses that allowed a

supposedly state-of-the-art, $4 billion airport, opened just two years ago, to

be overrun in minutes by a few hundred protesters, even if some were armed with

clubs and metal rods.

...

Kind of was afraid I would see something like this... After hearing from both Thai officials as well as foreign experts that it would normally take at least a week or two to get a compromised airport operational again with regards to security concerns, we will now see Swampy in full operations within two days...

"Nothing of concern found", "initial security checks confirm everything is in order" - h*ll, the terrorists even cleaned up after themselves - how bad can it be?

Arriving on the 19:th, hopefully they will have had time to perform some more satisfactory security sweeps by then, just hope nothing happens meanwhile...

[TheWalkingMan]

...

Airport general manager Serirat Prasutanond, touring Suvarnabhumi on

Wednesday after the protesters finally abandoned their siege, told Reuters:

"They did no damage. They love Thailand."

But such apparently flippant dismissals of security lapses only enrage

those who insist on more professionalism.

"It is a joke," said one Singapore-based industry consultant. "If that

happened here or in Kuala Lumpur, the protesters would have been shot. Whoever

was responsible for security, they would have been shot next."

...

No damage, they love Thailand...

I like the comment about KL.

Today (04 Dec 200/), Thai Airways flew 2 flights (TG6419 & TG6779) from Narita. All other flights were canceled. I wonder what the schedule will look like tomorrow and I wonder who was on the planes...

BTW, I called a travel agent in Tokyo and she said that the airport was closed until the 15th. I guess she has not been informed of the latest developments.

TheWalkingMan

Edit: Added comment about Narita Airport

Edited December 4, 2008 by TheWalkingMan

[turbog3]

Look, if 400 protestors came storming suddenly into melbourne airport, or sydney airport... i doubt anyone could stop them either... to be quite honest. cant comment about other countries

If 400 protesters came storming into a international airport anywhere else, the police and whatever other authorities and armed forces deemed necessary to deal with the situation, would likely do something more than, 1) wait, 2) talk with the protesters and 3) wait some more, and finally 4) let them all leave peacefully once they achieve their goals...

Sure thing, if 400 or 3000 or whatever protesters entered the airport area, no-one would be able to stop them initially, unless the airport is a military airport with a division or two of marines based there, but what happens after the initial take-over is most likely where Thailand differs from most of the other countries, IMHO...

[ozfarang81]

Look, if 400 protestors came storming suddenly into melbourne airport, or sydney airport... i doubt anyone could stop them either... to be quite honest. cant comment about other countries

If 400 protesters came storming into a international airport anywhere else, the police and whatever other authorities and armed forces deemed necessary to deal with the situation, would likely do something more than, 1) wait, 2) talk with the protesters and 3) wait some more, and finally 4) let them all leave peacefully once they achieve their goals...

Sure thing, if 400 or 3000 or whatever protesters entered the airport area, no-one would be able to stop them initially, unless the airport is a military airport with a division or two of marines based there, but what happens after the initial take-over is most likely where Thailand differs from most of the other countries, IMHO...

agreed with the bit of what happened after the initial movement. they should have been moved out.

[onzestan]

Let's not fool ourselves please.

It was a well orchestrated event, and probably King Power is a PAD sponsor, and told them : " don't touch my shops".

The fact that nobody (including security and immigration police) did anything to stop PAD should be put in it's right context.

Orders from above !!!!

cheers

onzestan

[MsFigure]

...

Airport general manager Serirat Prasutanond, touring Suvarnabhumi on

Wednesday after the protesters finally abandoned their siege, told Reuters:

"They did no damage. They love Thailand."

But such apparently flippant dismissals of security lapses only enrage

those who insist on more professionalism.

"It is a joke," said one Singapore-based industry consultant. "If that

happened here or in Kuala Lumpur, the protesters would have been shot. Whoever

was responsible for security, they would have been shot next."

...

No damage, they love Thailand...

I like the comment about KL.

Today (04 Dec 200/), Thai Airways flew 2 flights (TG6419 & TG6779) from Narita. All other flights were canceled. I wonder what the schedule will look like tomorrow and I wonder who was on the planes...

BTW, I called a travel agent in Tokyo and she said that the airport was closed until the 15th. I guess she has not been informed of the latest developments.

TheWalkingMan

Edit: Added comment about Narita Airport

My husband was supposed to fly back from Jakarta tomorrow afternoon on Thai but that flight was canceled and now he's supposed to fly in on Saturday (Dec 6) afternoon. I just checked the THAI website schedules and they've got that the Jakarta-BKK flights resume on the 6th but I suppose we'll have to wait and see if that actually happens

[oceano]

Look, if 400 protestors came storming suddenly into melbourne airport, or sydney airport... i doubt anyone could stop them either... to be quite honest. cant comment about other countries

no they cant...so after an hour 3000 soldiers take care of the airport.

In italy we use the soldiers also for fight the mafia...i think also other country they will use them in case of emergency.