Flights between Bangkok and Singapore resume
By Cheryl Lim, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 05 December 2008 2135 hrs

	Photos  of
	Related News • Tourists flood out of Thailand but turmoil remains • Bangkok airport to resume normal operations on Friday • Singapore Airlines to resume Bangkok flights Friday • Flights resume as Thai protesters abandon airports • Thai protesters abandon airports as flights due in

SINGAPORE : Flights out of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International airport have resumed.

Passengers who flew in from the Thai capital said the situation there is stable. But for some, it was an experience they would not want to repeat.

The last two weeks have been an agonising wait for 27-year-old Pearly Siah.

Her mother, Madam Sim Sau Kam, who was holidaying in Bangkok , was supposed to return last Monday.

But she was among the hundreds of travellers left stranded after anti-government protestors took over Bangkok's main airport.

Ms Siah said: "We were not sure of the situation outside of the airport, she was quite worried."

Airport operations at Suvarnabhumi have since resumed and Madam Sim's flight was one of the 16 scheduled to arrive in Singapore on Friday, so both mother and daughter could now breathe a sigh of relief. Madam Sim's flight - SQ975 - arrived in Singapore at around 4pm.

Travellers told Channel NewsAsia that the situation in Bangkok is more peaceful.

But while some said the experience has left them shaken, others felt it was more like an extended holiday.

One passenger said: "I was enjoying myself the whole time."

Another commented: "I went shopping with my wife."

A third, however, noted: "There were fights, there were bombs, a lot of things. It was very bad."

Some 490 stranded Singaporeans have managed to return via flights through Phuket, Chiangmai and U-Tapao airports.

Cathay Pacific will have four flights out of Bangkok to Singapore, while Singapore Airlines and Tiger Airways said they will have three incoming flights from Bangkok.

AirAsia has also announced it will be resuming flights out of Bangkok.

Bangkok may have reopened its airport but travellers are still sceptical.

Some travel agents Channel NewsAsia spoke to said they have not seen an increase in the number of Singaporeans booking flights from Singapore to Bangkok.

And they said they are not expecting the demand to go up until the beginning of next year.

As one travel agent put it, Singaporeans are probably just waiting for the dust to settle. - CNA/ms