More than 100 flights at Chiang Mai airport have been cancelled and 50 more rescheduled so far due to a planned mass release of hot-air lanterns during next week’s Loy Krathong festival.
Many flights in Chiang Mai have been cancelled because of the release of yipeng lanterns during the Loy Krathong festival. (Photo by Sarot Meksophawanakul)
Apichart Chopthamnuen, director of Chiang Mai airport's service section, said the flying flotilla of yipeng lanterns after 6pm Nov 5-7 will cost the airport about 2 million baht in revenue.
Mr Apichart said the airport has already notified airlines about the release and asked them to adjust their timetables to reduce risks posed by the flying krathongs, which could get sucked into jet engines or turboprops.
Several airlines have cancelled flights and adjusted schedules after 6pm during the period, said Mr Apichart.
So far, a total of 112 flights -96 domestic and 16 international - have been cancelled from Nov 5-7. Thirty domestic flights and 20 other international flights have their timetables altered during the period, said Mr Apichart.
The number of domestic passengers is expected to drop by 16,200 people, while the number of international passengers will drop by 2,400 people due to flight cancellation.
During the festival last year, a total of 1,419 yipeng lanterns fell in the Chiang Mai airport area.