Departing flights canceled as protesters swarm Bangkok airport

If you are flying out of Bangkok, beware that anti-government demonstrators swarmed Suvarnabhumi International Airport and halted departing flights today at Thailand’s primary airport, the Associated Press reports.

“For the safety of passengers, we have to stop flights out of the airport temporarily until the situation returns to normal,” airport manager Serirat Prasutanon said in a statement to the AP. He noted that incoming flights were still operating.

Demonstrators, identified as the People’s Alliance for Democracy, are seeking the resignation of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat and his cabinet.

“Political tensions that have been simmering since 2006, when a similar protest campaign against then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra — accused of corruption and abuse of power — led to him being deposed by a military coup,” the AP report said.

It was unknown exactly how many flights had been canceled, according to the airport manager. Thai Airways said 18 flights had been canceled and stranded hundreds of passengers.

–Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photos: Protesters (top), and the passengers (above) who have been stranded by delayed flights at Bangkok’s airport; by Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 25, 2008 at 10:37 am by Mary Forgione and is filed under Airline travel, Asia, Business Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.