Thailand: Airport slot allocation draws ire

Airlines and charter flight operators are urging officials to revamp management of aircraft movements through "unhelpful" Thai airports. Affected parties are directing their ire towards so-called slot coordination, which they accuse of being inefficient, uncooperative and favouring THAI at times. The function of granting time slots for take-off and landing at big airports such as Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang has been carried out under the umbrella of THAI. "We often receive a 'no' when we ask for slots when we know that with a little cooperation, flexibility and understanding they could accommodate our requests," said an affected operator. For one business aviation operator, those denials for flight slots are estimated to cost some THB500m a year as flights are aborted or turned away. <br/>