The Loy Krathong Festival is one of the biggest celebrations on Thailand’s annual calendar and Chiang Mai is one of the hubs of the action. To mark the festival, one of the traditions for city residents is to release sky-lanterns (khom loy) into the air as soon as darkness falls.
Mr Chopthamnuen said the airport had already asked airlines to alter their schedules so that they were not using the facility after 18:00 on the three days. Officials say that while the sight of thousands of khom loy floating gently through the night sky is a magical sight they do pose a significant danger to aircraft.
The lanterns could get caught up in the propellers of turboprop aircraft or jet engines could suck them in. During and after 2013’s Loy Krathong Festival, workers at the airport collected a total of 1,419 khom loy from the area contained within the perimeter fence.
Festival balloons stop flights to Chiang Mai
News in Asia
A senior official at Thailand’s Chiang Mai Airport says that next week’s Loy Krathong Festival will disrupt flight arrivals and departures. The festival runs from 5 to 7 November and Apichart Chopthamnuen says airlines have so far cancelled more than 100 flights during the period and changed the times of another 50.