air travel has survived largely through state support, whether in the form of equity or subsidies. The airline industry as a whole has made a cumulative loss during , once the costs include subsidies for aircraft development and airport construction
One argument is that positive externalities, such as higher growth due to global mobility, outweigh the microeconomic losses and justify continuing government intervention. A historically high level of government intervention in the airline industry can be seen as part of a wider political consensus on strategic forms of transport, such as highways and railways, both of which receive public funding in most parts of the world.
Although many countries continue to operate state-owned or parastatal airlines, many large airlines today are privately owned and are therefore governed by microeconomic principles to maximize shareholder profit.
Thailand is the world’s 29th largest economy with a GDP of USD 388 billion. GDP growth averaged 4.1% between 2000 and 2013, according to HSBC.
The Thai economy is predicted to grow 3.5 to 4.6% in 2015, fuelled by the government’s infrastructure investment plans.
Thailand, the second largest economy in ASEAN after Indonesia, is an upper middle-income country with pro-investment policies and a well-developed and growing infrastructure platform.
Economic considerations