I woke up this morning to find an interesting email stating that Thai Airways has filed a civil suit against the PAD leaders for their role in shutting down Suvarnabhumi airport last year. Thai Airways is claiming 575 million baht (about 17.5 million USD) in damages for loss of earnings to the company. While this is very likely a drop in the bucket (I remember reading that the airport closure was costing THAI something like 500 million baht per day!) against the losses, it is more likely intended to send a message to both political groups in Thailand and possibly stop future demonstrations like this from happening.

I’m sure you all remember the protests that shut down Suvarnabhumi from November 27th through December 4th. I’m sure some of you remember it quite vividly as I have received emails from a few people who were trying to get out of Thailand during that time. I was totally shocked at the time that the airport blockade was allowed to continue for so long, as I’m sure many of you were as well.

I’m surprised that it has taken this long for someone to bring such a suit and I wonder if the timing has something to do with the recent change in leadership at THAI. Dr. Piyasvasti Amranand took over at THAI on Oct. 16 as the new president and since then has been very vocal about interference from political sources and from board members stating that such interference “had substantially weakened the management of the company, and our response to the crisis.”. Ultimately Dr. Piyasvasti would like to see Thai Airways as one of the top carriers not just in Asia, but in all the world. I am certainly looking forward to this as I remember flying THAI back in the 90’s when they were one of the best in the world.

I have to say I would be happy to see THAI win this suit as they have had a very rough couple years and the week long closure of Suvarnabhumi hurt them more than any other carrier. I am not anti-PAD, but I feel that while peaceful protest is useful as a tool in the political change process, when taken to an extreme where it adversely affects tens of thousands of innocents it becomes something different than a peaceful means to effect change.

I know some of you were trapped in Thailand during this protest and I’m wondering how do you feel now, 1 year later, about the airport closure and the current lawsuit being brought by Thai Airways.

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