Thai Airways president opposes Don Muang as international airport

Thai Airways International Public Co., Ltd. (THAI), the country’s flag carrier, opposes the idea of reinstating Bangkok’s former airport, Don Muang, now serving airliners for domestic routes, as another international airport to ease traffic congestion at Suvarnabhumi international airport.

Thai Airways president Apinan Sumanaserani said Suvarnabhumi international airport, which celebrates its first anniversary of commercial opening September 29, is busy during heavy traffic only. In fact, the airport could easily cater to some 60-70 million passengers annually without problems, he said.

His comments were made after many suggestions were offered that not less than 45 million passengers would use Suvarnabhumi yearly and that the airport was now reaching full capacity so there is a need to make Don Muang another international airport to ease traffic congestion there.

The number of passengers would remain unchanged even after redesignating Don Muang as an additional international airport while it would create heavier costs for the airlines because a number of passengers will have to board their fights at the former international airport, Mr. Apinan said.

He urged concerned authorities to listen to the opinions of passengers, airlines and airline associations before making a decision.

Dead pilot "loved Phuket view from above"

Captain Arif Mulyadi once told his son that of all the places he had flown, Phuket had the worst weather. But it also had the most beautiful scenery from above.

The retired lieutenant colonel was among the 88 people who died on Sunday in a plane crash on the Thai resort island of Phuket.

"Father promised to come home to see his grandsons on Sept 28," Arif's oldest son, Agung, told news portal detik.com on Monday.

He is returning home 10 days early, but not for the joyous family reunion that had been anticipated.

Arif's body arrived from Thailand yesterday morning (TUES) at SoekarnoHatta International Airport. He was buried at Pondok Ranggon public cemetery, southeast of Jakarta, yesterday.

He is survived by wife Lief Farikha; three children, Agung Bayu Hanggono, 29, Windi Hapsari Catu Pratiwi, 27, and Dimas Bayu Prakoso, 25; and two grandsons.

Arif was piloting the McDonell Douglas MD82 that crashed Sunday. The plane, operated by Thai budget airline OneTwoGo, broke into two and burst into flames on landing, killing 88 people and injuring 42 others.

Chairman of OneTwoGo, Udom Tantiprasongchai, told reporters in Bangkok that the pilot was "an experienced foreigner".

Arif, who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1974, retired from the Air Force two years ago after serving for more than 30 years.

He piloted jet fighters for several years before flying transportation planes, according to soninlaw Lt Col (ret) Munir Umar. He finished his service as an instructor at the Air Force Academy.

"He started his pilot career outside the Air Force long before he retired. To my knowledge, he once worked for Star Air and Sempati, among others," Umar told reporters at Arif's home at the Halim Perdana Kusumah Air Force housing complex in East Jakarta.

Arif's wife was in Thailand on Monday to identify her husband's remains and accompany the body back to Indonesia.

Arif worked for OneTwoGo for several years. His wife joined him in Thailand, where the couple lived, while their children remained in Jakarta.

"Ibu (Arief's wife) just returned home two weeks ago. It was a routine visit, visiting her children and grandsons," Umar said. "Now she is returning here for a different reason."

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.

Govt to spend 174mln on airport noise

The cabinet approved a plan to set aside 174 million baht, to spend on aiding residents living near the Suvarnabhumi airport , and who are affected by noise pollution.This is the latest move by the government, after thousands of residents affected by aircraft noise at the airport rallied in what they said to be the "last peaceful move" on Sunday to pressure aviation authorities to answer their demands.They said Airports of Thailand has been slow in making compensation payments and mitigating the impact of the noise that has haunted them for a year now.The cabinet spending plan did not mention how the money would be spent.

Thanacity: Insurance Payout if a plane should crash into the resident’s home or condominium ? Will you get it before you grow old or die of old age

We believed most of the current residents have not thought much about this. What happens should a plane loose part of its engine or the plane crash into the homes of the residents ? Will the residents’ homes be compensated by AOT ? Or by the Airline ? Or by the government authority ? Or if the residents have bought insurance policies, will they get paid ? Look into the policy carefully. The insurance salesmen may not know what is happening. What happens if the homes is completely destroyed and where will these residents stay in the meantime ? Who will pay compensation for lost of use? Who will pay compensation for the rebuilding of these homes ?

What happens if some of the residents are killed ? What happens if some of the residents are badly injured and have to be immobilized or stay in the wheelchair for the rest of his life ? What happens if the sole breadwinner dies and will the family be compensated for lost earnings?

AOT have its own rules and procedures. Any payout requires approval but this committee and that committee and that there must be enough members present to carry out the vote which must later be endorsed by so and so…. Etc etc… etc. So does the government. I remembered reading somewhere that during a visit by the Prime Minister, he was approached by a person for medical help for transportation to a hospital. He agreed to help. It was even covered by the newspaper. But he was conveniently forgotten until he called in the reporters and TV stations. Correct me if I was wrong in this story. Of course the minister apologized. It was a misunderstanding and error by the officers .

Is the airport runways, controls , systems, approved by ICAO. ? Does the insurance policies covers these type of damages or death claims ? We got to read the fine lines of the insurance company. Most of the homes are insured for Fire and others types of disasters but plane crash… well it is kinda doubtful. But most probably not from a plane crash or damages from falling parts of the aircraft.

And if the planes runs straight into the condominiums. There will be hell of a lot of investigations. But in the meantime, there is no help for the residents. Who approved the present height of the condominiums ? Are these condos too high ? There will be panels and committees set up. Committee members resigned and hence there is no quorum. Probably the new President will resign too. Finally, nothing will be done. So Thanacity residents BEWARE. Do not be so smug and happy that you can get compensation and benefits by doing nothing.

Better look into your house insurance policies. Be prepared to pay for higher premiums as your house is in danger of being damaged by a possible plane crash and vibrations caused by the flying planes. Why must the residents be penalized ? Of course, those AOT chaps will say it is impossible until they moved and stay at Thanacity ! It is now getting bad to worst. Every other minute a plane flies over Thanacity. And it looks like they are scheduling more flights over Thanacity because the other runway is under repair.
Guess what ? They are now looking at expanding the airport. They are planning to pay out as compensation the grand amount of Baht 174 million. AOT constructed the airport tunnel for baht 4,000 million although SRT gave them a budget for Baht 500 million. Looks like the protestors and the residents will be in for a wild balloon ride. As Thanacity residents, we were promised many things by the developers but it looks like AOT is following the same route.

Editorial: Yasothon incident an utter disgrace

Officers' failure to act as one of their own was beaten at a police station shows the power of 'dark influences'

It would have been beyond belief in many countries, but what happened at a Yasothon a police station a few days ago represents so much that is true about Thailand's law-enforcers and "dark influences". According to news reports, a local godfather and his men stormed into the station after his son had allegedly been assaulted by one of the officers. That officer reportedly was made to prostrate himself before the man but was still beaten unconscious by the gang while two of his supervisors looked on. After an uproar in the media, four senior police officers in the northeastern province, including the provincial chief, were transferred to inactive posts.

There were two sides to the story regarding what had happened. The man who sparked the controversy, Sathiraporn Naksuk, president of the Yasothon Provincial Administration Organisation (PAO), claimed the assaulted officer had slapped his son during a minor incident at a concert. The officer, Sergeant Athit Daengdee, insisted he had not mistreated the teenager, although some witnesses claimed there could have been physical contact as a result of a scuffle.

No matter what actually happened during the concert, what followed was an absolute disgrace. Athit was reportedly made to apologise to Sathiraporn in the most humiliating way, yet followers of the Yasothon PAO chief kicked him senseless in full view of the policeman's supervisors. The incident triggered a protest by scores of police officers on Wednesday, touching off a wider reaction in the media and throughout society. Officials at national police headquarters took action on Thursday, and one doubts whether they would have reacted had it not been for the protest and public outcry.

It's not every day that police are at the wrong end of abuse, yet what happened in Yasothon is symptomatic of the malaise plaguing one of Thailand's weakest and most corrupt institutions. The action taken by Sathiraporn and his men, while undoubtedly a gesture of extreme hostility towards the police, also underlines deep-rooted close relations between law-enforcement and "influential people", some of whom operate outside the realm of the law.

We see all the "extremes" in this case. A police assault on an innocent pedestrian would have gone unreported and unnoticed. Within more just law-enforcement systems, charges would have been filed to protect that citizen's rights and punish the wrongdoers. We can't expect that to happen in Thailand, where just a few years ago thousands of suspected drug-peddlers were shot dead in a sweeping campaign against the amphetamine trade.

Men like Sathiraporn could have filed charges, but he chose to take matters into his own hands. Yet while we were amazed by his audacity, we were more dumbfounded by the action - or non-action to be exact - of the assaulted officer's supervisors. Were they afraid of Sathiraporn? Why? Or did they owe him some gratitude? If so, why? But the most relevant question is the one which has been asked resoundingly: if a policeman whose duty is to maintain public order and suppress crime is beaten unconscious at his own station by thugs, who can members of the public rely on for their safety?

If Sathiraporn deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law for assaulting a police officer and trampling upon the dignity of the police force as a whole, how should Athit's supervisors be penalised? If we are correct about the depths to which the police institution has sunk, here is what is going to happen: the PAO chief will escape legal action, and Athit's bosses will remain on the force, the dignity of which they have failed utterly to protect, and it will be business as usual as soon as the public's attention subsides and the media's focus turns elsewhere.

No matter how many senior officials try to portray this incident as an exception, there's no escaping the fact that it's nothing but the tip of the iceberg. And no matter how outraged the public may feel, there is little doubt in the minds of the people that something nastier must be going on somewhere else. A police officer may have been the one on the receiving end this time round, but the force may have brought it upon itself. A system with any semblance of integrity would have held the likes of Sathiraporn back. The Yasothon incident, on the other hand, is a desperate cry for help from a system in a coma.

Acting Yasothon police chief vow to clean up dark influence

YASOTHON - A suspect in the assault of a police officer, who confessed to kicking the sergeant senseless "to repay a favour", is wanted for a drug-related case in his home province, police said Saturday.

Vowing to crack down on local influential figures and to restore police's dignity and morale, Colonel Sommai Kongwisaisuk, acting provincial police commander, said he was not afraid and would order investigations into any officer allegedly under the influence of Sathiraporn Naksuk, president of the Yasothon Provincial Administration Organisation.

The police investigation has found that Wiroj Jaiphrommuang, 29, was wanted for a drug-related case in Samut Prakan's Phra Pradaeng district, Sommai said, adding that he would squeeze Wiroj into elaborating on his comment of beating up Sergeant Athit Daengdee on behalf of someone else.

Sommai said two committees were set to investigate if supervisors at Muang Yasothon Police Station allowed the assault to take place without acting against the aggressors, as well as to see if PAO president Sathiraporn's claim of not knowing the two assault suspects was true.

If Sathiraporn were behind the attack, he would be regarded as a dark force, not just an influential figure, he said.

Muang Yasothon police had interviewed six witnesses but did not summon Sathiraporn's side, as police could not contact him yet, he said.

Maj-Gen Amnuay Mahapol, deputy commissioner of Provincial Police Region 3, said he believes Yasothon had had no influential figures, only thugs. He would instruct all police to watch that these gangsters do not cause trouble, especially during the upcoming general election.

Many well-wishers continued to show their support for recuperating Athit.

The case drew public attention after Wednesday's protest by 100 police who were outraged over Athit's assault and his supervisors' inaction. The assault allegedly took place as Athit was apologising to Sathiraporn for reportedly slapping his teenage son's face during a concert on the night of September 1.

Abac Poll director Noppadol Kannikar said a recent survey of people in Provincial Police Regions 8 and 9 found that most agreed with the senior police officers' transfers following the Yasothon assault and nearly all wanted police to maintain their integrity and ensure justice for all.

The poll also covered local police and 69 per cent said they had problems with policies, as they were not in line with supervisors in the past 12 months. And 86 per cent said insufficient budgets were the main obstacle to their work.

Most approved of the police reform plan especially the decentralisation of command, while slightly over half agreed with the prime minister acting as the chairman of the national police policy board, but 30 per cent said otherwise.