Thailand in no hurry to reboot airline travel

A senior director in the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand said June 20 that international flights were not likely to resume in Thailand until late September. CAAT director-general, Chula Sukmanop, was reported saying none of the airlines he met had expressed interest in resuming international flights by next month when the order shutting down the country's airspace is due to expire. He attributed the reluctance to uncertainty over the government's policies on international travel. "I believe international flights will resume this September," Chula was quoted as saying. "All of the airlines could not assess the demand for air travel. They have to wait and see the situation by the end of this month. The government has to make a final decision before the country's airspace could be open, but it does not mean an all-out opening for air travellers since only business people would be allowed to take the flights under the so-called travel bubble proposals." The president of Airports of Thailand, Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, reported that air travel should be back to pre-Covid19 levels by October 2021, 18 months away. But for the rest of this year, the Thai aviation sector is expecting a significant drop in flights and passenger numbers. "Recovery of international routes will depend on how quickly a vaccine or antiviral drugs can be made available. Total flights and passengers will drop by 44.9% and 53.1% respectively, due to the Covid-19 pandemic," he was quoted as saying.<br/>