Phuket Gazette: Don Mueang Airport ready to resume operations

– Thailand news selected by Gazette editors for Phuket’s international community

PHUKET (The Nation): Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra today presided over a re-opening ceremony.

The government allocated 392 million baht to the Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AoT), with the AoT spending 1.2 billion of its own budget to rehabilitate the airport.

Aeronautical Radio of Thailand has also checked the safety standards of Don Mueang Airport and found that all systems, equipment and facilities were at full readiness to resume operations.

The AoT says it applied international sanitary standards to kill microbes and odour to ensure the facilities are toxin-free, assisted by the Department of Health, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University.

Nok Air chief executive Patee Sarasin said low cost carrier Nok Air would resume 82 normal daily flights at Don Mueang Airport tomorrow, commencing at 6am. The airline moved temporarily to Suvarnabhumi Airport during the flood crisis.

However, budget carrier Orient Thai Airlines will remain at Suvarnabhumi Airport for some time before moving back to its base at Don Mueang, which is mainly used for domestic flights.

— Phuket Gazette Editors