Wednesday 29 October 2014


Lantern Madness




More than 100 flights at Chiang Mai International Airport have been cancelled and 50 flights have been rescheduled during next week's Loy Krathong festival.The move was taken as a safety measure to ensure planes avoid the lanterns released to celebrate the event, according to the airport.
Almost 20,000 passengers are affected by the flight cancellations and the airport will lose about 2 million baht in revenue, said airport director Group Captain Wisuth Chantana 
During the festival last year, a total of 1,419 lanterns fell in to the Chiang Mai International Airport area, according to Gp Capt Wisuth.
The lantern issue was also discussed at the cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
Deputy government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the cabinet agreed to the safety measures which stipulate that lanterns can only be released after 9pm between Nov 5-7.
Meanwhile, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) has banned people from releasing lanterns on Nov 6, Loy Krathong day, over key historical areas as well as government offices, airports, tall buildings and residential areas of the city.
Doubt very much that any bans will be policed, hard to break the habits of a lifetime....,