THE NATION BANGKOK

AIRPORT CLOSURE
Stranded aircrafts allowed to leave
By Chularat Seangpassa Wichit ChaitrongThe NationPublished on December 1, 2008
Move follows negotiations between AOT and the PAD; industry officials say loss is now 'incalculable'
window.google_render_ad();
Airports of Thailand (AOT), the operator of Suvarnabhumi Airport, yesterday gave the green light to Thai Airways International and other airlines to remove a total of 88 aircraft grounded since last Tuesday.
"We've told every airline that they can remove their stranded aircraft if their pilots are ready," said Serirat Pasutanond, AOT's acting president.
The green light followed lengthy negotiations with leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), who laid siege to Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang
airports, while law enforcement officials have been unable to disperse the anti-government protesters.
PAD is now under heavy pressure to alleviate the situation because 160,000 Thais and foreigners have been
stranded here and abroad due to its unlawful act.
In the first positive development since the start of the airport siege on November 25, Serirat said last night that several aircraft of THAI and other airlines had already left Suvarnabhumi so that they could fly these aircraft to U-Tapao, Chiang Mai, Phuket or other regional international airports to help stranded passengers.
The airport will remain closed until 6pm today due to the presence of protesters, making it unsafe to reopen the airport.
Meanwhile, Pramong Suthiwong, chairman of Thailand's Board of Trade, yesterday urged the government to re-open Suvarnabhumi Airport as soon as possible because the damage from its closure is now "incalculable".
Dr Olarn Chaipravat, the deputy premier in charge of economic affairs, will today hold an urgent meeting with Pramon and other private sector executives to discuss the situation.
Leaders of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Federation of Thai Industries, Thai Bankers Association, and Tourism Council of Thailand will also join the meeting.
The private sector said an extended closure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports would also severely damage the country's international reputation, while the recovery process will take more than one year.
Pornsilp Patcharinkul, a senior executive of the Board of Trade, said fresh food, orchids, electronics, jewellery and other exporters are badly hit by the airport closures with damage estimated to be around Bt3 billion per day.
Fresh fruit and vegetable exporters could not do their business because they needed to use cold storage facilities at Suvarnabhumi Airport, he said.
The private sector is not sure how long it would take to reopen the airports as a reopening will likely require certification from the international aviation body for safety reasons.
Somkiat Anuraj, vice chairman of the Board of Trade, said it may take more than one year to fix the country's international image if the forced closure of airports lasted more than a week.
"Thai exporters will lose lots of business opportunities as buyers will turn to other countries. Unfortunately, this is happening during the peak export period as lots of orders are received in November and December," he said.
Santi Vilassakdanont, chairman of Federation of Thai Industries, said the government may have to use part of the additional Bt100-billion fiscal budget to revive tourism, aviation and export sectors hit by airport closures.
For example, there could be special travel packages for domestic tourists to help operators in tourism, hotel, restaurant and related sectors cope with the business downturn as the number of foreign visitors is likely to drop sharply.
At this stage, foreign arrivals could have plunged to just 7-8 million next year down from the 13-14 million arrivals, resulting in a major loss of jobs in tourism and related sectors.
Tourism and other services currently account for 40 per cent of Thailand's GDP.
Kosit Panpiemras, executive chairman of Bangkok Bank, said yesterday that if the airport closure is longer than 1-2 weeks, businesses will be hit hard.
Pairoj Vongvipanond of Dhurakij Pundit University, said Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat would likely step down or dissolve Parliament to end the crisis, while Pasuk Phongpaichit of Chulalongkorn University said there should not be another coup.
Meanwhile, Thailand Development Research Institute has projected that economic growth will be only 1.9 per cent for 2009, compared with an estimated growth of 4 per cent this year.