Thailand: Bangkok airport woes draw spotlight

Bangkok's deficiency in airport capacity continues to irk the global airline industry, as the city was singled out at a yearly summit as the only Asian destination with serious problems. Tony Tyler, DG of IATA, on Thursday specifically named Bangkok among five cities facing a severe airport capacity crunch. The others are New York, London, Sao Paulo and Frankfurt, where congestion is critical and efforts to address the problem have fallen short of industry expectations. "Some governments understand that aviation infrastructure is a driver of national competitiveness. But too many have forgotten. We see that with bottlenecks in cities as far flung as New York, London, Sao Paulo, Frankfurt and Bangkok," Mr Tyler said. "In some cases we have the paradoxical situation of world-class airports on the ground and gridlock in the skies." But Tyler noted that authorities in China are working to improve the frustrating situation there. "The bigger question is, why aren't government decisions on infrastructure more motivated by seeing aviation as a force for good?" he asked. <br/>