Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has instructed authorities to charter an Airbus-380 aircraft to fly Thai evacuees out of Israel, in addition to over 30 flights arranged with Nok Air, Air Asia, Thai Airways International and Spice Jet airlines.

There are also six special flights by Royal Thai Force’s Airbus 340-500 aircraft arranged for October, with the first having already left for Tel Aviv early this morning (Sunday). It isscheduled to arrive back at Don Mueang airport on Monday morning after 10 countries, including Israel, granted overflight permission to pick up Thai evacuees from Israel.

After chairing the Rapid Response Centre meeting at the Foreign Ministry this afternoon, the prime minister told the media that, although 32 flights have been arranged with the four commercial airlines, which can fly about 5,700 Thais out of Israel, they are still not sufficient for the over 7,000 waiting for evacuation, with the likelihood that more will apply to return.

He pointed out that the Israeli government has postponed its ground invasion of Gaza for 1-2 days, adding that, when the invasion is launched, travelling out of Israel by sea and land will not be possible and the only way out will be by air.

He disclosed that the Thai embassy in Tal Aviv has managed to settle about 400 Thais at a hotel in the Israeli capital, which is being used as a temporary shelter.

He admitted that the situation in Israel cannot be guaranteed, as the ground war is looming, adding that there are two options for the air evacuation. One is direct flight from Israel to Thailand and the other is to take Thais to Dubai, Cyprus or Jordan for transit to Thailand.

Regarding the idea of chartering an Airbus-380, which has a500-passenger capacity, the prime minister said this was mentioned at the RRC meeting today, when a participant asked why the government is not approaching THAI to charter one of its Airbus-380s parked at Suvarnabhumi international airport.

He said he had been informed by THAI executives that the aircraft have been parked at the airport for quite some time and need maintenance before they meet airworthiness requirement. Additionally, THAI pilots have not flown such aircraft for a long time and they will be required to undergo retraining.