THAI AIRWAYS HOPES TO CLEAR STRANDED PASSENGERS BY ONE WEEK BY D. ARUL RAJOO

BANGKOK, Dec 5 (Bernama) -- Thai Airways International is confident of clearing its over 300,000 stranded passengers both at home and abroad within one week following the full operation of the capital's two major airports after an eight-day siege by anti-government protesters.

Its vice president for Suvarnabhumi Project, Chokchai Panyayong said almost
all its scheduled flights are operating as normal beginning Friday, including
the first for overseas routes that took off to Rome at midnight followed by to
Sydney and Nagoya.

He said the national carrier was badly hit by the airports' blockade since
Nov 24, as it used to handle about 30,000 passengers a day, or 30 percent of
daily capacity at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Don Muang, which
caters for domestic flights.

"On the first day the airport was closed, we had already checked-in 6,464
passengers who could not fly out. We put them in hotels and managed to fly them
out within three days (after the Utapao Airport was opened), he told Bernama
after a ceremony in full Thai traditional culture held at the departure hall to
commemorate the reopening of the two-year-old airport.

Airport staff and school children dressed-up in traditional costumes came
with banners apologising for the inconveniece caused and appealed to foreigners
to return to the Land of Smiles.

After the protesters ended their seizure on Wednesday, Airports of Thailand
(AOT) allowed limited flights. During the closure, airlines were forced to use
the small and heavily congested Utapao Airport near Pattaya while check-ins
were carried out at an exhibition centre here.

Among the planes that took off from Suvarnabhumi today were from Malaysia
Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia to Kuala Lumpur, while Thai Airways has scheduled 47
international outbound, four international inbound, seven domestic outbound and
seven domestic inbound fligthts.

AOT chairman, Vudhibhandu Vichairatana said it was fortunate that the
protesters did not damage equipment and other facilities at the airport, which
allowed them to resume operations much faster than the initiall deadline of Dec
15.

"We are now almost back to the normal operation while cargo flights already
took off on Wednesday. Our officials are assessing the total losses now...I
must thank airlines and passengers who cooperated with us during the crisis," he
said.

Thai Airways, which suffered losses about Bt500 million (RM50 million) a
day, has announced that it would sue the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD)
for Bt20 billion (RM2 billion).

The airport is one of the busiest in the capital, handling between 600 to
700 flights a day, with annual capacity of 45 million passengers.

Many passengers who turned up at the airport said they were glad to return
after the ordeal.

Hans Devrind, who came here with his wife Theresa Hughes on Nov 24, said he
had problem contacting the local tour agent to confirm his flight today.


"I had to call my travel agent in London on several occasions to confirm
our flight. They even sent e-mails and faxes but my hotel said they never
received...only last night we managed to sort things out," he said.

Devrind said they were fortunate to confirm their flight home as there are
many tourists, including an elderly couple at their hotel in Hua Hin, who are
still stranded without knowing when they can fly out of the country.

Despite the hassle, Devrind said they had a beautiful vacation in Hua Hin
and would certainly return as they were impressed with the hospitality shown by
the Thai people.
-- BERNAMA