Thai protesters force closure of second airport: airport official

November 2008

BANGKOK: -- Thai anti-government protesters have blockaded and shut down a second Bangkok airport, an official said Thursday, just over a day after they forced the closure of the main international airport.
Supporters of the so-called People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) started massing at the main entrance to the old Don Mueang airport Wednesday evening, and services there were cancelled at about midnight.
"Protesters have blocked the entrance to the terminal therefore we closed services until 6:00 pm (1100 GMT) Thursday," said Flying Officer Anirut Thanomkulbutra, director of Don Mueang.
Don Mueang operates a handful of domestic flights, and was the only airport left serving the capital after protesters swarmed the main Suvarnabhumi Airport late Tuesday, forcing the airport director to suspend flights.A police official said about 3,000 PAD supporters were gathered outside Don Mueang airport.
Protest leaders had said Wednesday that they aimed to force the closure of Don Mueang to prevent ministers from flying to the northern city of Chiang Mai to meet with Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.
Somchai returned from a summit in Peru, landing in Chiang Mai on Wednesday evening, soon after the powerful army chief urged the premier to call new elections to end six months of turmoil in the kingdom.Somchai refused, and called a cabinet meeting.
The premier had been holding cabinet meetings in a disused terminal at Don Mueang after protesters occupied his official Government House office in central Bangkok in late August.
But on Monday, PAD supporters besieged his temporary office as well as they upped their bid to topple the government, which they accuse of running the country on behalf of ousted and exiled premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

-- AFP 2008-11-27

Flying budget airlines can be cheap but they can also be bad

Some hints about airlines: Many cut price airline lease by wet or dry leases planes to carry their passengers. They cut corners wherever they can as this is the name of the game. Offer cheap fares in return you have an alternative to fly. However the pitfalls are many from Office staff not having good PR, to even no help if the plane is delayed!! and many other things. In Thailand the airlines are fined if 3 hours late? It is hard to check on an airline that offers cheap fares but look at the fine print and when you buy a ticket check refunds, changes, offers etc. Normally a lot of airfares will offer discount 1 way fares at very cheap prices. However they do not say about the surcharges, tax, fees added which can be more than the fare. Maintenance is also a worry as no frills may mean no regular maintenance of their planes as good as an airline does. We have a 1st Officer who flew for a local airline and he had to ground the airline due to bad tyres??The owner couldn't afford the maintenance. Some pilots are on lower salaries & not experienced than airline pilots?? again a factor fault. But tell us if you have a problem. RMEMBER IF THE PLANE IS LATE YOU ARE LATE NOK AIR is cutting its daily flights between Bangkok and Phuket from the end of July, along with services to three other destinations.About 20 Nok Air staff at the airport on Phuket are also going to lose their jobs as the aviation industry crisis, fuelled by rising oil costs, impacts on Thai travel nationwide.Inevitably, the cutbacks will affect tourism on Phuket and before long, investment on the island in property and resort construction.The message coming from the real estate industry on Phuket is that the outlook has never been more promising. This is a surefire indication that sales are slow and now is the time to set your own price. Full report at www.phuketwan.com:
http://phuketwan.com/article/tourism/nok-a...ghts-sack-staff

Nok offered to start a Club for frequent flyers & it took ages to get off the ground in fact about 3 months ago? Frequent flyers also asked them to look at offering the upgraded biz class seats to these people and said they would look into it. They never did anything? so we stopped flying them as Thai Airlines began offering the better service for the same price. Nok is also top heavy in staff and have no sense of PR to passengers and all their newsletter were in Thai language for the Nok Club. The planes they leased were also old 737s with foreign hostesses etc (must hire them as a wet lease pre condition )and these planes were old another reason we opted back to fly Thai.

Nok AIR cuts local routes, management salaries to reduce costs

Low-cost airline Nok Air has cut salaries and reduced domestic routes in order to save costs.

BANGKOK: -- CEO Patee Sarasin yesterday said the airline would cut management pay by 20 per cent. There are 30 to 40 people at management level who will be affected. The move is expected to save Bt4 million per month.Meanwhile, the airline is considering increasing fares by up to Bt240. "The airline has already lost Bt114 million, which is lower than was reported earlier," Patee said.He also confirmed that the airline would not stop operations, as media speculation predicted. Moreover, the airline is still working with its parent company Thai Airways International, in services as well as marketing.Nok Air's board agreed to the measures yesterday following discussions about the airline's future.On Tuesday, the airline cut three domestic routes, from Bangkok to Chiang Rai, Ubon Ratchathani and Krabi.

Nok Air cancelled all flights between Bangkok and Bangalore last November and Bangkok and Hanoi in May. However, it is still operating Bangkok-Udon Thani, Bangkok-Trang, Bangkok-Nakhon Si Thammarat and Bangkok-Chiang Mai services.Passengers on cancelled routes are being transferred to Thai Airways International and Thai AirAsia. Those preferring not to travel can reclaim their money from Nok Air.The airline was established in December 2003 and started operations on July 23, 2004. Its shareholders are: Thai Airways (39 per cent), Dhipaya Insurance (10 per cent), the Government Pension Fund (10 per cent), Krung Thai Bank (10 per cent), the Crown Property Bureau (6 per cent), and ING Funds, King Power, Siam Commercial Bank Securities, Patee Sarasin and Supapong Asvinvichit - each holding 5 per cent.
Nok Air began its first daily international service to Bangalore on May 31, 2007. The airline also has landing rights for additional Indian cities: Chennai, Hyderabad and New Delhi.Nok Air suspended its operations to Bangalore last November,reportedly due to non-availability of aircraft, and to allow services to more lucrative routes in Southeast Asia.

-- The Nation 2008-07-04