Cargo flights can resume from Bangkok -airport head

BANGKOK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Cargo flights can leave Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport on Tuesday as soon as shippers and airlines are ready, the head of the airports authority said. "I have authorised pure cargo flights to resume from 0900 hours (0200 GMT) this morning and it's up to them to start when they are ready," Serirat Prasutanond, managing director of Airports of Thailand PCL AOT.BK, said.

He said passenger flights would not restart until anti-government protesters ended their sit-in, which has halted all passenger and cargo flights for the past week.

A cargo sector official said a number of air cargo aircraft were expected to take off from Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday.

The cargo flights were scheduled after a meeting between the Transport Ministry and private businesses on Monday, Kasem Jariyawong, president of the Thai Airfreight Forwarders Association, said, adding that he did not expect the protesters to block these flights. (Reporting by Vithoon Amorn; Editing by Alan Raybould)