The decision came after an urgent meeting of executives of Thai Airways, Thai Smile Airways, and Patee Sarasin, the CEO of Nok Air.

Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, president of Airports of Thailand (AOT), told Nation TV on Sunday that 1500 passengers were affected by Nok Air’s flights cancellation.

At least nine flights of Nok Air have been cancelled on Sunday after pilots went on strike due to airline’s new policy concerning upgrading standards to meet safety standards set by the European Aviation Safety Agency.

Nitinai said the protest of the pilot started at 3pm. Some passengers were not informed prior so he provided space at Gate 15 for them to wait for the flights.

The meeting also agreed to dispatch three Nok Air flights Sunday night to deliver some stranded passengers.

The first flight flew from Bangkok to Surat Thani and then Nakhon Si Thammarat.

The second flight from Bangkok flew to Phuket and Hat Yai district in Songkhla.

The third flight from Bangkok had its first stop at Khon Kaen and then Chiang Mai.

The flight cancellation prompted angry passengers to flood Nok Air Facebook page with complaints.