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Flights Canceled For Loi Krathong Festival
1st Nov 2014
Airline operators have either canceled or postponed their flights to and from Chiang Mai International Airport during the yearly celebration of the famous Loi Krathong Festival.
The lighted lanterns released to the skies during the festive celebration are deemed to be dangerous to aircraft during take-off and landing.
As a result, close to 20,000 passengers are projected to be affected by the cancellations and a loss of approximately THB2 million to the airport's revenue.
Airport director, Captain Wisuth Chantana, confirmed that as much as 96 domestic flights and 16 international flights were canceled between November 5 and 7, 2014.
Additionally, the airport director disclosed that 30 domestic and 20 more international flights have been rescheduled during the three-day event.
AirAsia group of airlines comprise the bulk of canceled flights with 42 while Thai Airways International and Bangkok Airways have 12 canceled flights each. Both Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways furthermore delayed 3 and 9 flights respectively.
Capt. Wisuth Chantana has also told the communities located near the airport to inform the airport authorities of their activities during the festivities.
He assured the airlines, however, that a regular clean-up is to be conducted on a daily basis, up to 10 times a day during the 3-day event.
More than 1,400 lanterns found their way to the airport area during last year's Loi Krathong festival which caused flight delays and undue cancellations.
Despite the guidelines given to communities regarding the time of release of the lanterns last year, many still violated the ordinance. The ordinance states that people can only release their lanterns after 9pm during the celebration.
Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has gone as far as banning the release of the lanterns on November 6, the official day of the festival. The lighted lanterns pose danger to the city's many historical landmarks as well as important public buildings and commercial and residential areas.
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