Airports of Thailand considers airline relief package
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Airports of Thailand (AoT) is considering reducing landing and parking fees at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport to enable airlines to better weather the current downturn, according to a Bangkok Post report.
A study for the proposed relief is expected to be completed in the next two to three months, with the measures possibly being implemented by March 2009, the report said.
“AoT is better off helping carriers to continue flying through Suvarnabhumi and paying service fees to us,” AoT Acting President, Serirat Prasutanond told the newspaper.
Serirat noted that AoT has previously agreed to cut landing fees at Bangkok’s main hub by 5%, as well as halving aircraft parking fees and extending the payment term for airport service fees to 60 days from 30 days.
That concession, lasting four months to the end of next month, was meant to enable airlines to weather the storm triggered by the rise of fuel prices over the summer.
Thailand’s Airline Operators Committee (AOC), a coalition of international airlines operating in Thailand, have reportedly welcomed AoT’s plan to reduce fees, saying that any assistance extended by AoT would contribute to the airlines’ effort to keep their costs down.
Passenger traffic through Suvarnabhumi contracted 0.8% in the first 10 months of this year to 33.6 million, while flight movements slipped 2.8% to 211,453, according to AoT statistics.
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