Thursday, November 27, 2008

Japan Air, Singapore Air Cancel Flights to Bangkok

Japan Airlines Corp., Singapore Airlines Ltd. and other Asian carriers canceled flights to Bangkok for a second day today after the city's two main airports were shut down due to anti-government protesters.

Japan Airlines, Asia's largest airline by sales, canceled five flights to Bangkok, according to faxed statement from the airline today. Singapore Airlines, the region's most profitable, has suspended all flights to the city until further notice, the carrier said in a statement yesterday.

The Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports that are gateways to Southeast Asia's second-largest economy were shut yesterday after anti-government protesters stormed a terminal and blocked roads leading to the airfields. Thailand Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat rebuffed a call to step down and hold early elections after the seizure of Bangkok's main international airport.

Somchai returned yesterday to the northern city of Chiang Mai from an overseas trip. He said the government will have a cabinet meeting today to decide on measures to restore order.

Thai Airways International Pcl, the country's largest carrier, suspended all flights from the Don Mueang airport, the carrier said in a statement. Airports of Thailand Pcl shut the facility until 6 p.m. local time today, the carrier said.

The airline yesterday said it loses about 500 million baht ($14 million) in revenue per day from the closure of the Suvarnabhumi airport.

All Nippon Airways Co., Japan's second-largest airline, will make a decision about its evening flight to Bangkok later today, spokesman Kazuo Yoshioka said in a telephone interview today in Tokyo. Tiger Airways Pte, the budget carrier partly owned by Singapore Airlines Ltd., canceled its flights to the Thai capital for a second day today, according to its Web site.

The protests are headed by the People's Alliance for Democracy, a group comprised mostly of the Bangkok middle class, royalists and bureaucrats. Alliance members have blocked roads, seized buildings and wielded guns and metal bars with impunity in protests that started May 25.



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