Thai airports chief quits amid turbulence

BANGKOK, Feb 2 (Reuters) Thailand has replaced its airports chief four months after the opening of Bangkok's 4 billion dollars Suvarnabhumi airport, which has been plagued by graft scandals, cracked runways, leaking toilets and baggage-handling problems.

Airports of Thailand (AOT) president Chotisak Asapaviriya had quit with immediate effect because of ''health problems'', board member Jermsak Pintong told reporters after a board meeting yesterday.

''He wanted to take some rest after working hard,'' Jermsak said of Chotisak, a chain-smoking, no-nonsense former banker who once told Reuters he had only applied for the job in the first place to win a bet with a friend.

Chotisak had been under enormous pressure from the government of then-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to open Suvarnabhumi on September 28 despite airline industry fears that it was not 100 per cent complete or tested.

The opening, which went ahead on schedule despite a military coup that removed Thaksin nine days earlier, was reasonably smooth with only a few teething problems in the airport's hi-tech baggage-handling system.

Since then, however, the list of faults has grown, and Thaksin's enemies in the army-appointed government appear determined he -- and his close ally Chotisak -- should take the blame for them all.

The most serious problems to emerge are cracks in the runways and taxiways that caused at least two flights to be diverted last week to a nearby Vietnam War-era military base as a runway was partially closed for emergency repairs.

Airline and airport officials say there are as yet no safety fears, although delays have occurred as sections of the runways have been shut for maintenance and planes have had to take long detours around closed taxi lanes.

AOT, now chaired by one of the generals who launched the coup against Thaksin, told Chotisak in December he had two months to resolve the airport's problems.

As well as forcing out Chotisak, AOT also sacked two of Suvarnabhumi's top operations managers, including airport director Somchai Sawasdeepol, Jermsak said.

Suvarnabhumi, which means ''Golden Land'' in Thai, is the largest airport in southeast Asia, with an annual capacity of 45 million passengers. Thailand had hoped it would quickly emerge as a serious regional rival to Hong Kong and Singapore.

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