Thai group bid for airports

Thai group bid for airports

BANGKOK (AFP): A consortium of four Thai companies will bid
against foreign interests for a stake in Thailand's major
provincial airports, reports said Saturday.

"The four companies in the consortium ... want the Thai
government to change its plan to offer the four airports only to
foreign investors."

"It is unfair to allow only foreign companies to control
airports in Thailand," the Nation daily quoted Bangkok Airways
chairman Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth as saying.

Bangkok Airways, Bangkok Aviation Fuel Services, Aeronautical
Radio of Thailand and Thai Airways International are the four
firms in the Thai consortium.

The Thai government has said that it plans to offer a stake in
the four airports -- Hat Yai, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Phuket
-- to firms that have managed airports larger than Bangkok's
international airport. No Thai companies have done that.

Several foreign companies, including Aeroports de Paris (ADP),
British Airports Authority and Frankfurt Airport, have expressed
interest in bidding for the stake for Thailand's few profitable
airports.