THAI AIRWAYS International (THAI) yesterday resumed its flights from
Bangkok to Europe after cancelling some the previous day due to
Pakistan’s closure of its airspace.
The national carrier also plans to provide special flights to some
select countries in Europe in order to |help passengers get to their
destinations.
Around 4,000 passengers were stranded as 16 flights arriving and 20
departing from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport were cancelled after
tensions with India led Pakistan to close its airspace.
Of the cancelled flights, 21 were of THAI, to and from Europe, and six to and from Pakistan.
THAI usually flies over Pakistan’s airspace when going to or returning
from Europe, but after the closure, the carrier had asked for
authorisation to fly over China’s airspace, the airline said yesterday.
Flight Lieutenant Pratana Patanasiri, THAI’s vice president for aviation
safety, security and standards, said the national carrier has received
permission from authorities to fly over China. However, he said, the
permission was granted on a daily basis, so the airline needs to update
the situation daily.
Also, he said, flying over China actually cuts the flying time down by 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, a source from THAI said the national carrier has unofficially
been given permission to provide special flights to substitute the
flights to Frankfurt, London and Moscow that had been forced to return
to Suvarnabhumi on Wednesday.
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THAI is also seeking cooperation from its allied airlines to transfer
passengers, and has asked for permission to arrange special flights to
London, Paris and Frankfurt, from where passengers can easily head to
other destinations.
Thousands of passengers were stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport on
Wednesday night, as they had not been given advance notice of the
cancellations. Some only learned their flight had been cancelled when
they showed up at the check-in counter.
Officials were worried if it could be a PR disaster for THAI with
passengers complaining about the lack of communication about the
situation.
It will take about three days to clear Suvarnabhumi of stranded
passengers, said Thera Buasri, director of the Airport Authority of
Thailand’s Ground Service Control.
As for flights to Pakistan, THAI re-routed its TG507 and TG508 flights
yesterday by flying directly to and from Muscat and not stopping over in
Karachi. The Bangkok-Lahore-Bangkok flights on TG345 and TG346
yesterday were also cancelled.
In a related development, Auramon Supthaweethum, director-general of the
Commerce Ministry’s Department of Trade Negotiations, said talks on a
Thailand-Pakistan free trade agreement (FTA) will not be affected by the
India-Pakistan conflict.
The Kashmir border crisis between the two countries recently resulted in
both countries claiming to have shot down each other’s jets and an
Indian pilot being captured by Pakistan. India has since demanded the
safe return of the pilot, AFP reported.
Thailand has an FTA with India, and a pact with Pakistan has been in the pipeline since 2015.
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“Up to 99 per cent of the FTA chapters have already been negotiated, and
we believe the pact will be concluded and enacted by the end of 2020,”
Auramon said.
She added that the FTA negotiations with Pakistan had been delayed due
to its general elections, which took place in July. She also noted that
negotiations between the two countries would resume this year as a video
conference.
“The remaining issue that needs to be discussed is the level of market
access in goods that both sides will offer,” she explained.
Banjongjitt Angsusingh, director-general at the ministry’s Department of
International Trade Promotion, said the impacts of the Kashmir conflict
are still unclear, but if there were to be any negative impacts on Thai
trade, they would only be for the short term.
In 2018, the total value of trade between Thailand and Pakistan stood at
Bt54.045 billion, growing by 2.77 per cent year on year.
Of the total trade value, Thailand exports Bt47.411 billion and imports
Bt6.634 billion worth of goods, giving the Kingdom a trade surplus of
Bt40.776 billion, the Commerce Ministry said.
Source - TheNation
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