THE WRECK of a One-Two-Go aircraft has finally been removed more than two years after a holiday flight crashed at Phuket International Airport.

Local scrap metal dealers arrived at the airport on Wednesday and carted off the remains of the fuselage, tail and wings.

The wreckage had been retained under a tarpaulin by a stand of trees, close to the Andaman Sea, acting as a constant reminder of Phuket's worst aviation disaster to commuting passengers.

When Phuketwan last inquired why the wreckage was still at the airport, we were told that the insurance case had yet to be settled.

It seems from the removal of the wreckage that some of the remaining legal aspects of the crash may have finally been resolved.

One informed source tells us that most of the actions involving Thais who were on board Flight 269 when it crashed have been settled.

The One-Two-Go MD 82 aircraft, on a scheduled flight from Bangkok, crashed on landing on Phuket early on the evening of September 16, 2007, with the deaths of 90 passengers and crew.

Another 40 survived, many with severe injuries or burns.

Only a summary of the official crash report and its recommendations has even been released. Calls have been made this year by the families of British victims for full disclosure, which is normal in most countries that adhere to international aviation standards.

After being temporarily barred from flying amid concerns about pilot training and flying hours, One-Two Go won the all-clear from the Department of Civil Aviation and resumed flights to Phuket in December last year.

Today the airline announced an extra daily flight from December 3 on the Phuket-Bangkok-Phuket route.

Flights will leave Bangkok at 11.50am and 1.40pm and leave Phuket at 1.35pm and 3.30pm.

Tourism confidence returned quickly after the 2007 crash, with the 2007-2008 high season Phuket's best ever. Far more damaging was the invasion and occupation of Phuket airport almost 12 months later, in late August 2008, when political protesters stopped all flights in and out for 72 hours.

That action by the so-called yellow shirts was followed by a second airport invasion last November, this time at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport. The tourism industry on Phuket and throughout Thailand is still struggling to recover.