Thailand Airlines has stopped its cargo operations for outgoing, incoming, and transit at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok due to the severe flooding disrupting the airport operations and leaving thousands of passengers’ luggage unattended in the airport.
The ban on cargo operations will begin on the 1st of October and will last until the 6th of October with an exception of diplomatic messages, live animals, corpses and letters, according to the statement by the airline’s department managing cargo operations. The operation will be normal on the 7th of October.
Due to the flooding in the area, many workers couldn’t reach the airport and that has made it difficult for the airline to manage shipment and deliver the shipments via its scheduled flights. The temporary suspension will allow the airline to rearrange the employees in the warehouse so as to clear out the goods waiting to be processed.
In addition, the stoppage also affected the passenger luggage service of the company. The company managing the luggage operations for other companies has been experiencing a lot of delays and cancellations since September 26.
On September 29, the CEO of Thailand Airlines apologised on a livestream. He disclosed that fewer than 3% of flights had taken off as scheduled in the past two days, as only about half of the ground crew reported to work, making it hard for the company to operate at the airport.
As of September 30, around 5,600 luggage pieces had yet to be delivered back to their owners. Eamsiri stated that the cargo facilities were full because the customers were not able to collect their cargo, and the congestion did not allow the airline to use the equipment necessary for moving passenger baggage.
To improve the current situation, Thailand Airlines planned to cut the number of departures from Bangkok by 30%-40% in the next few days. In addition, the company cancelled 37 additional domestic and international flights planned for September 29 to October 1, including ones to London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, and Sydney.
The interruption occurs as Bangkok continues to be an important international tourism destination. In 2025, it earned the title of the most visited city in the world, with a total of 30.3 million international visitors, according to Euromonitor International, a well-known market research company.
The temporary halt means that the flooding in Bangkok has implications for the aviation industry across Thailand, as it disrupts cargo transport, passenger transport, and links to the outside world.
