Shin Corp and its cellular flagship, Advanced Info Service, say today’s Supreme Court verdict on the assets-seizure case of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra should have no affect on their business operations, because the case has nothing to do with them. (The Nation)

Passenger traffic through Thailand’s six main airports in January hit 5.47m, a historic monthly high, says the Airports of Thailand Plc. The surge was thanks to the global economic recovery, reduced political unrest and peak travel demand.

Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) management are scratching their heads as to why Suvarnabhumi Airport failed to secure a top spot as one of the world’s best in the latest polling. It will seek external expert advice to determine what went wrong and vows to work even harder to ensure that Suvarnabhumi climbs the customer satisfaction survey conducted by the Genevabased Airports Council International (ACI). Suvarnabhumi ranked 24th in the 2009 ACI polling, up from 38th in 2008 and 48th in 2007, its first full year of operation.

According to finance permanent secretary Sathit Limpongpan, there has been progress on ACL sale. According to the process, a proposal will be submitted to the finance minister, which if approved would be sent back to the Bank of Thailand. The deal is currently pending for the finance minister’s approval. Meanwhile, finance minister Korn Chatikavanij said he should approve the deal in couples of days and that all parties should benefit from such

transaction.

The 10 largest passenger airlines at Suvarnabhumi Airport yesterday signed an agreement with Airports of Thailand Plc that entitles them to landing-fee rebates for carrying more international passengers. Signatories of the agreement include Thai Airways International, Thai AirAsia, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, Emirates and Singapore Airlines.

PTT has diversified into energy-maintenance services through a joint venture with a GE Energy subsidiary, Granite Service International. “PTT has no intention to be the operator of a large power plant like the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, but we will focus on power maintenance services for industrial plants or oil rig platforms,” PTT president and CEO Prasert Bunsumpun said yesterday. The joint venture (JV), named PTT Management and Engineering (PTTME), will serve both PTT Group companies and other customers, he said. (The Nation)

Total Access Communication (DTAC) is expected to launch aggressive promotions for iPhones after clinching a deal with Apple to market the trendy smartphones here. DTAC said in a release yesterday that it had already reached a distribution agreement with Apple. While DTAC executives declined to comment, it has been speculated that DTAC would offer the iPhone 3G and 3GS models next month. (The Nation)

The Finance Ministry is considering allowing its majority shareholding in Thai Airways International to fall in order to change its current status as a state enterprise. The SET-listed national carrier is currently 50.1% held by the ministry, and as such must comply with state enterprise regulations. The carrier also has the right to ask the ministry to guarantee its loans, helping THAI reduce its funding costs by leveraging the credit of the government.

Hana Microelectronics Plc is considering a capital expenditure of US$30-35m to expand its production facilities and may hire up to 1,000 more workers this year, according to vicepresident Issara Sivakul. Most of the investments will be made at the Lamphun plant that produces printed circuit board assemblies (PCBA).The facility in northern Thailand is now running at 90% of capacity. The expansion would start in the latter half of this year and take six to 12 months to complete, Mr Issara said.

Total Access Communication (DTAC) has set aside Bt6b for capital expenditure this year, the same as last year, to maintain a high free cash flow for its investment in third-generation wireless broadband service. CEO Tore Johnsen yesterday said the amount was in line with forecasts there would be only 3m to 4m new mobile-phone subscribers this year in the market. DTAC is expected to add more than 30 per cent of them to its network.