Heads have begun to roll at Suvarna-bhumi Airport. Under tremendous pressure over the mounting problems at the new airport Chotisak Asapaviriya yesterday resigned as president of Airports of Thailand (AOT).

His resignation was effective immediately.

Somchai Sawasdeepon, the general manager of AOT, was also shifted by the board to the inactive post of "company specialist".

The resignation of Chotisak and shifting of Somchai came after an endless series of scandals surrounding the new airport forced authorities to make plans to shift some domestic flights back to Don Muang Airport.

The AOT's board of directors appointed its vice president Kullaya Phakakong, who is responsible for planning and finance, to succeed Chotisak.

It also appointed Serirat Prasutanond, executive vice president for regional airports, to replace Somchai as general manager.

Chotisak voluntarily stepped down, citing ill health as the reason, a source from the AOT board said.

General Saprang Kalayanamitr, deputy commander of the Royal Thai Army, chaired the board meeting. He had been signalling for some time that he was unhappy with Chotisak's performance.

Chotisak, who obtained a score of 62 points on his six-month performance assessment last October, had been under pressure from a host of problems: from taxiway cracks and lost luggage to leaks in the terminal roof and damage to cargo.

His score was just above the target of 60 points and his performance was due to be re-assessed in three months.

Before joining AOT on April 3, Chotisak had worked at Siam City Bank and the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Bank of Thailand.

Somchai was not available for comment yesterday. His replacement, Serirat, said he would tackle the problems with urgency.

The industry veteran said he had not expected to be given the job.

Serirat said he would immediately call a meeting of executives to handle the crisis.

 AOT's board earlier established three committees to investigate and resolve problems at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The first panel has been working on relieving the problems of passengers.

The second is overseeing security to eliminate crime and ensure adequate measures to combat

terrorism are in place. The third panel is responsible for tackling corruption. 

Watcharapong Thongrung, 

Suchat Sritama 

The Nation