Airport to reopen ...
Suvarnabhumi international airport will celebrate a technical return to full operation on Friday, His Majesty the King's birthday, despite major concern abroad over security breaches.
Suvarnabhumi will be "open for full services including check-in and immigration" at 11am Friday, Airports of Thailand chief, Serirat Prasutanont declared in a statement.
But airline officials and ambassadors of many of Thailand's closest allies were seriously concerned about security problems, especially at Suvarnabhumi.
Bangkok-based ambassadors of Australia, Canada, the European Union, Japan, Korea, New Zealand and the United States signed an unprecendented protest letter about the vulnerabililty of the airport to security and terrorism threats.
We "urge the government of Thailand to take all necessary measures to improve the protection and security of all Thai airports," said the protest.
Airline representatives said they were "under enormous pressure to open - from the airport authorities, from stuck passengers, from shareholders, from the tourist industry. But our genuine security concerns are being ignored."
There were two separate concerns. The first was the ease of the airport takeover last week by armed protesters of the People's Alliance for Democracy.
"What if they were armed terrorists?" an airline official was quoted as asking by the Reuters news agency.
The second problem is the unseemly haste in resuming airport operations. Suvarnabhumi officials say that the mob did not tamper with runways or departure gates - but they do not specifically know that.
There also has been only cursory inspection at best of tower and information systems which were directly occupied and accessed by the protesters.
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 Organisation, the International Air Transport Association and foreign embassies will visit the airport on 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 the King, who has cancelled the traditional royal audience on Thursday night, the eve of his 81st birthday, because he is "slightly ill".The nation had hoped His Majesty would give guidance for ending the country's political turmoil, but now is worried about the health of the monarch.(BangkokPost.com)
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