Meanwhile, the Aviation Department has encouraged the private sector to utilise commercial airports under its supervision.

Department director-general Chaisak Angkasuwan said yesterday that Boeing had recently sent officials to survey the possibility of utilising the airport at Nakhon Ratchasima.

According to preliminary talks, Boeing is interested in using the facility as a centre for aircraft maintenance. However, it has not yet made official contact or sent an application to the department.

The agency has promoted commercial airports under its supervision to utilise their business potential. At present, there are a number of such airports that do not have regular flights.

 The Aviation Department has officials stationed at 27 airports. However, there are eight that have no regular flights: Nakhon Ratchasima, Phetchabun, Mae Sod, Tak, Chumphon, Ranong, Hua Hin and Pattani.

Chaisak said the department had been trying to encourage airlines to use the services of the 27 airports for domestic routes, for instance, from Nakhon Ratchasima to Chiang Mai or from Nakhon Ratchasima to Phuket.

To cite one example, SGA Airline (Siam General Aviation) flies from Phrae to Chiang Mai.

The department has to date granted licences to 47 companies for the operation of aviation businesses.

Earlier, it considered transferring the operating rights of commercial airports to the provinces concerned or to agencies that would be established to operate them. The idea was conceived in order to ease the debt burden of the department.

However, the department for now is encouraging the private sector to do business at the airports under its supervision, instead of transferring the rights to others.

Watcharapong Thongrung

The Nation