Thai airline halts certain domestic flights due to air pollution
By VNA  March 5, 2025 | 07:00 pm PT
Tourists wait to check in for flights at Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, Thailand, Jan. 4, 2023. Photo by Reuters
Bangkok Airways, one of Thailand’s main airlines, said on Wednesday that it will suspend flights between Bangkok and a northern province for more than a month because of poor visibility caused by air pollution.
The carrier said flights from Bangkok to the north-western town of Mae Hong Son will be suspended because smog is expected to make visibility too poor to land. The company experienced the same problem in 2024, when smog levels were extremely high.
The airport authority in Mae Hong Son, a popular stop of travelers in northern Thailand, announced on Facebook last week that flights would be suspended from March 15 to April 20.
Air pollution spikes in Thailand, especially in the north, between December and April as farmers burn stubble to prepare land for the next crop season. The Thai government banned crop burning early in 2025, with violators facing fines and legal action, although it is not yet clear what impact the measures are having.
The air quality index for Mae Hong Son was 7.9 times greater than World Health Organization guidelines, according to IQ Air data, which measures global air pollution.
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