All budget flights are operating normally

Thailand's budget airlines, including tragedy-stricken One-Two-Go, are reporting no flight cancellations despite predictions that their passenger numbers would drop up to 20 per cent for a few months following Sunday's Phuket crash.

All three budget carriers - Thai AirAsia, One-Two-Go and Nok Air - are maintaining normal operations.

Thai AirAsia CEO Tassapon Bijleveld said demand for bookings remained brisk and that there had been no cancellations.

"We resumed operations between Bangkok and Phuket on Monday afternoon after the reopening Phuket Airport," he said, adding that the only affect on Thai AirAsia was the cancellation of one flight into Phuket while the airport was closed. It flew two services to Phuket on Monday afternoon and has been operating its normal six daily flights between Bangkok and the resort island since then.

Nok Air deputy CEO Sehapan Chumsai said his airline was operating its two daily flights from Bangkok to Phuket as normal.

Surat Thani Airport director Chamnong Sarnaksorn said One-Two-Go flights from Surat Thani remained fully loaded, because locals understood that air accidents were uncommon occurrences. There have been no cancellations on flights out of Surat Thani on either One-Two-Go or Thai AirAsia. The former flies one service a day with 148 seats and the latter two flights with 172 seats each.

At Phuket Airport, large numbers of passengers, both local and foreign, queued yesterday to check in, undeterred by Sunday afternoon's tragedy. Many said they were confident about safety standards at the airport but would prefer to stick with mainstream airlines.

Praphan Sirikururat, 49, a regular passenger on Thai Airways International, said he arrived in Phuket on Sunday. He was returning to Bangkok fully confident in the safety standards at the airport, for both landing and taking off.

Phuket Airport director Pornchai Eua-aree yesterday said the airport was "100 per cent ready" in terms of safety measures to resume full operations.

The airport handles 106 landings and take-offs a day, he said. Its maximum capacity is 114 flights a day. He said because it was located near the sea, the airport had no special obstacles to normal flying operations despite strong winds.

"No plane has ever skidded off the runway [before Sunday's crash]. This was the first time - and we're not yet sure if the plane really skidded off, because the investigation is still underway," he said, adding that emergency procedures at the airport were thorough and in line with standards imposed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

One-Two-Go, which operates six daily flights from Bangkok to Phuket, has not yet cancelled any flights. It operates five daily flights from Don Mueang Airport and one from Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The airline has expressed its extreme regret about the tragedy on its website, www.fly12go.com.

"We will take full responsibility for each injured and killed passenger and make our best attempt to provide support," the airline said.

It advises that inquiries about names of passengers, carrying passengers' relatives to the accident scene and transportation of bodies be directed to its hotline numbers, all of which are listed on the website.