Thai Airways International is stepping up efforts to clear all remaining 200 passengers still stranded at Suvarnabhumi airport, arranging additional special flights with larger aircraft to transport them to Europe.
THAI president Sumeth Damrongchaitham said about 200 passengers remain stranded at Suvarnabhumi Airport after the sudden closure of Pakistani airspace on Wednesday.
The closure came as a result of hostilities between India and Pakistan and forced airlines to reroute some flights to avoid that airspace. THAI is now expediting efforts to take those passengers to their destinations as quickly as possible, Mr Sumeth said.
It arranged an additional round-trip flight on Saturday that could accommodate 696 passengers.
The flight was TG9269 on the Bangkok-Frankfurt route, operated with a Boeing 777-300ER that left Bangkok at noon and was expected to arrive in Frankfurt at 6.30pm local time.
The return flight TG9279 was scheduled to depart from Frankfurt at 8.30pm local time and to arrive in Bangkok at 3.15pm today.
THAI also scheduled an Airbus A380, which can accommodate up to 1,014 passengers, a markedly higher capacity than the Boeing 777, for round-trip flights TG916 and TG917 on the Bangkok-London route today.
By providing special flights on Saturday and Friday and using high-capacity airplanes today, THAI will be able to transport more stranded passengers to their destinations in Europe, Mr Sumeth said. THAI is monitoring the situation closely to see how it can best help, he said.
Passengers can find information on flight schedules on thaiairways.com or call the THAI Contact Centre at +66 (0)2-356-1111.