Tourism News

Tourism News Phuketwan Tourism News
facebook recommendations

NEWS ALERTS

Sign up now for our News Alert emails and the latest breaking news plus new features.

Click to subscribe

Existing subscribers can unsubscribe here

RSS FEEDS

Phuket GM Flies Amid Airport ID VIP Riddle

Phuket GM Flies Amid Airport ID VIP Riddle

Wednesday, January 19, 2011
THE General Manager of Phuket International Airport has been hurriedly replaced with just 24 hours' notice in a flurry of concern about a mysterious couple who had attempted to fly from Thailand without passports.

The sudden transfer of Wing Commander Prathuang Somkhom to special duties at Bangkok's Don Muang Airport indicates rising levels of alarm about the intriguing case.

It is believed that Transport Minister Sophon Zaram is angry at the handling of the case and infuriated that a committee of inquiry has produced no real results.

Replacing Wing Commander Prathuang Somkhom from tomorrow is the newly appointed Acting Director of Phuket International Airport, Wing Commander Passakorn Surapipit, a former Director of Don Muang and more recently Deputy Director for Operations at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand's main international hub.

Wing Commander Prathuang flies out with the major achievement of having taken Phuket airport beyond seven million arrivals and departures for the first time in 2010.

However, Airports of Thailand has yet to announce its plan to increase Phuket's capacity to at least 12.5 million trips while at the same time coping with a rapid and steady increase in tourist traffic and direct flights.

Today's commotion over the mysterious would-be pair seems to have triggered the change at the top.

Minister Sophon is believed to be agitated that the affair was first drawn to the notice of high-ups by concerned staff at Phuket and Suvarnabhumi airports, rather than senior-level management.

He is also frustrated that an investigation appears to have produced no results. Other nations with an interest in obliterating terrorism and international drug-smuggling may be growing more anxious for answers from Thailand.

The mysterious pair, a man and a woman, attempted to join a VIP flight out of Phuket early in the morning of October 29. The Boeing 737 had flown in from United Arab Emirates the previous day.

Seven VIPs with passports boarded the flight, but Immigration officers refused to let the man and the woman join them, because they did not have passports.

All that is known so far about the couple is that they were Americans who had changed their citizenship to Paraguayian, and that they claimed they had lost their passports.

In normal circumstances, a person who loses a passport would seek temporary travel documents from an embassy.

The couple, who travelled to Phuket by car from Bangkok in their attempt to board the 4am flight, are believed to have returned to Bangkok. They are thought to no longer be in Thailand.
Mystery Pair 'Tried to Exit Phuket With No Passports'
Breaking News Concerns about terrorism have been raised with the failure of an inquiry to identify two people who first tried to leave Phuket on a special VIP flight without passports.
Mystery Pair 'Tried to Exit Phuket With No Passports'

Phuket GM Flies Amid Airport ID VIP Riddle
EXCLUSIVE Phuket Airport has a new General Manager as concern deepens about a mysterious couple who attempted to leave Thailand last year with no passports on a VIP flight to the Middle East.
Phuket GM Flies Amid Airport ID VIP Riddle

Phuket Vendors Revolt Over 'Police Graft': Corruption Protests to Phuket Leaders
Breaking News Shopkeepers staged a revolt today in protest at demands for 1000 baht bribes that were to be the first regular corruption payments made at a new market in Patong.
Phuket Vendors Revolt Over 'Police Graft': Corruption Protests to Phuket Leaders

Patong's One-Way Wins Thumbs Up from Police
Latest Congestion caused by the first set of changes to Patong's one way street system was resolved within hours when police quickly reversed a one way decision.
Patong's One-Way Wins Thumbs Up from Police

Phuket Love Story: The Murder of a Golf Caddy
Latest Love is an admirable quality but the way it can be twisted surfaced when four people conspired to kill a young golf caddy as she rode her motorcycle to work.
Phuket Love Story: The Murder of a Golf Caddy

Alcohol Law 'Would Close All Phuket City Venues'
Latest A proposed law designed to highlight and reduce the consequences of excessive alcohol would mean virtually all of Phuket City's bars and entertainment venues would close.
Alcohol Law 'Would Close All Phuket City Venues'

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

Thursday March 28, 2024
Horizon Karon Beach Resort & Spa

FOLLOW PHUKETWAN

Facebook Twitter