Airlines around the world are preparing to resume services to and from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport over the next few days having received the green light from Thai authorities. Security will continue to be assessed but it looks likely that the airport will be running normal service within the next couple of weeks.Singapore Airlines plans the resumption of flights to and from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport from tomorrow [Friday 5 December 2008]. The first flight from Suvarnabhumi will depart for Singapore at 13:05 local time, Friday afternoon.

From Saturday onwards, a three-times-daily return flight will operate, in addition to a flight in each direction between Bangkok and Tokyo Narita.

The company says they will monitor demand in coming days to determine whether the capacity is in line with demand, and may make further schedule adjustments.

Qantas has said that it plans to resume services to Bangkok from this Saturday 6 December.

The Executive General Manager of Qantas, Mr John Borghetti, said Qantas had received approval from Thai authorities to resume flights and was also undertaking its own operational assessments of Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

“Following the closure of Suvarnabhumi on 25 November, Qantas has been operating its scheduled Sydney-Bangkok-London return services via Singapore,” Mr Borghetti said.

“In consultation with the Australian Government, our priority this week has been to provide opportunities for Qantas and British Airways customers and Australian nationals to leave Thailand.

“We have operated three relief flights between Phuket and Singapore since Tuesday, and a fourth and final flight will operate tonight. In total Qantas would have carried around 1,200 people out of Thailand.

“As soon as it was announced that Suvarnabhumi would be re-opened, and following our own operational assessment of the airport we began the necessary planning to resume services.”

The first Qantas flight, QF2 London-Bangkok-Sydney, is scheduled to return to Bangkok early evening on Saturday. It will be followed soon after by QF1 operating northbound from Sydney.

Gulf Air will be resuming its normal operations to and from Bangkok from 5 December 2008.

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