Thirty stranded aircraft leave Suvaranbhumi

Thirty stranded aircraft leave Suvaranbhumi

BANGKOK, Dec 1 (TNA) - Stranded aircraft, from both domestic and international airlines, began leaving Suvarnabhumi Airport since last night without any disruption from the anti-government protesters, the People's Alliance for Demcocracy (PAD) who stormed and seized the international airport since Tuesday.

There were 88 aircraft stranded at the airport, 12 belonging to foreign airlines while 76 were Thai-based airlines including Thai Airways International and Thai Air Asia.

Since Sunday night 30 of 88 empty aircraft had already left Suvarnabhumi without runway lights and or light on the aircraft as the authorities were afraid that the move would be disrupted by the protesters.

However, the operation ran smoothly, as the empty aircraft would be used for flights at other airports such as U-Tapao, Chiang Mai, Phuket or other regional airports to help stranded passengers to return home.

There were some 100,000 Thais and foreign passengers stranded in Thailand and abroad due to the closure of the two main airports, Suvarnabhumi last Tuesday and Don Mueang airport last Wednesday.

However, Suvarnabhumi airport will remain closed until 6pm today due to the presence of protesters, making it unsafe to reopen the airport. (TNA)