Trang Airport to resume operation Aug 9

BANGKOK, August 8 (TNA) - Trang Airport in the Thai South remained closed for the second day on Thursday, as officials were removing a troubled Nok Air plane which has blocked the runway since August 6. Trang Airport Director Thawon Saeng-ampai told journalists that officials from the Department of Civil Aviation and Thai Airways International (THAI), the national flag carriers, arrived at the Trang Airport on early Thursday morning to start removing the troubled aircraft away from the sidelined lawn of the runway. The airport director said that the operation should take 3-5 hours and, if no downpours, it should be complete by Thursday evening so that the Trang Airport should resume its normal aviation services on August 9. According to the airport director, passengers can book tickets for their outbound flights to Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport as usual, because Nok Air and AirAsia operating between the Trang and Don Mueang Airports have provided buses to temporarily transfer passengers to the nearby Krabi or the Nakhon Si Thammarat Airports during the closure of the Trang Airport. The Bangkok-bound Nok Air flight, DD7411, veered off the runway while speeding up for taking off, amid heavy rain, on Tuesday evening, leaving its three wheels stuck in the soft grass verge, but all 142 passengers and crew on board the plane were safe. (TNA)