In a last-minute change of plans, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was making his first foreign trip as the head of the United Progressive Alliance government, was today seen off by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and several of his ministerial colleagues at the old Safdarjang airport and not the customary Indira Gandhi International airport.

Singh had made it known to his ministerial colleagues yesterday that they need not come all the way to the airport for the mere formality of seeing him off.

This morning Singh left by an Indian Air Force helicopter from Safdarjung airport to the IGI airport from where he flew by a special aircraft to Bangkok, Thailand, to attend the BIMST-EC summit. Present at the airport in the heart of the city, close to the prime minister's official Race Course Road residence, were Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Human Resources Development Minister Arjun Singh, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and several other ministers.

About Singh's departure from Safdarjung airport and not the customary IGI airport, Azad said it was done to avoid traffic congestion. The prime minister did not want his ministerial colleagues to waste two hours driving to the IGI airport, he said.