While we will refrain from commenting on the validity of the demonstrators’ claims, we can say that these reckless demonstrations are causing irreparable harm to Thailand’s tourism industry. And even worse, the Thai demonstrators are inflicting severe financial losses for our two main air carriers, China Airlines and Eva Air.

The losses are even more devastating given the fact that the world economy was already in a slump before protest leaders came up with the idea to storm and occupy the nation’s two main airports. Due to its strategic geographic location and Thailand’s traditional popularity with international travelers, for decades Bangkok has been the most common transit point for commercial aircraft flying between points in Europe and East Asia.

Many passengers headed from Taiwan to Europe will fly to Bangkok, where they board aircraft bound for final destinations in Europe. Reports in the local media have cited airline industry sources as saying that on average, about 2,000 passengers fly from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Bangkok. Of these, about 500 passengers transfer at Bangkok to flights bound for Europe.

In addition, Bangkok is the most popular stopover for flights between Taiwan and Europe operated by our China Airlines and Eva Air. China Airlines operates at least 32 flight services between airports in Taiwan and Bangkok every week, including three daily services between Taipei and Bangkok and one daily Kaohsiung-Bangkok service, as well as seven Taipei-Amsterdam and three Taipei-Rome flights, which all make stopovers at Bangkok. Eva Air also operates numerous flights to or through Bangkok every week, including six Taipei-London flights, three Taipei-Vienna services and three Taipei-Amsterdam flights.

According to reports, our airlines are losing between NT$10 million and NT$12 million for each flight that gets canceled. The losses suffered by our two major carriers since the demonstrators overwhelmed Bangkok’s airports have certainly already run into the billions of NT dollars.

Bangkok is also the most common transit point for cargo shipped by air between Europe and East Asia. And because of the demonstrations, potentially billions of NT dollars’ worth of cargo shipments from Taiwan to Europe have been delayed or diverted, causing even more losses for our exporters.

Now that demonstrators have been allowed to halt air traffic into and out of Bangkok one time, this could very well become a common way of protesting in the future.

We also fear that demonstrators here in Taiwan of all political stripes might attempt to emulate the Thai protests, wreaking havoc on our own aviation sector. We just cannot understand why Thai demonstrators who claim to be defending their nation would want to cause so much harm to the country’s thriving aviation and tourism sectors. Just about anyone who has ever traveled to Thailand knows that Thailand is one of the world’s best tourist destinations and home to friendly people who are kind to international visitors.

After all the demonstrations are over, it will take years, if not more than a decade, for images of stranded tourists to be cleared from the minds of would-be visitors.

For their part, international air carriers in East Asia who depend heavily on transit through Bangkok should quickly find another transit point so that flights on European routes can be quickly restored.