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Published on October 30, 2007

Vice chairman Petch Manopa-witr agreed it was important to clear the area of birds for safety reasons. However, the airport needed to consider the fate of birds.

"We destroyed a significant portion of the birds' habitat to make way for Suvarnabhumi Airport, so we should create a new habitat for them during winter and their migratory period," he said.

If this were done, it would encourage birds to relocate from the airport, Petch said.

Last winter, a record number of black-faced spoonbills - a globally endangered waterfowl - spent the winter months near the airport, he said. Airport general manager Serirat Prasutanond met with the Thai Pilots Association earlier this month to devise the best way to reduce bird numbers at the airport. Serirat said the airport did not want to kill the birds and was experimenting with a spray made from grape-extract that might chase them away.

He had not considered a new habitat for the birds because it was beyond the airport's authority.

"Our main task is to chase the birds away from the airport," he said.

However, other state agencies such as the Tourism Authority of Thailand might be interested, he said.

Petch said any new habitat should be far enough from the airport that the birds did not interfere with aircraft. It should not be too difficult to provide such a location somewhere in the vast wetlands near the Gulf of Thailand.

"We already have an area; just make it safe for the birds by protecting and managing it," he said.

Located on a wetland frequented by indigenous and migratory birds, the airport is prone to bird strikes on aircraft, particularly during the winter when migratory birds from north Asia come down the Pacific coast to wetlands here.

Early this month, a bird was sucked into the engine of a Thai Airways aircraft during take-off. The incident forced the plane to discharge fuel and make an emergency landing.

The Nation