A THAI Airways plane carrying 375 people from Phuket was the first passenger aircraft to arrive at Bangkok's large Suvarnabhumi airport this afternoon.
Touchdown for Flight TG2109 about 12.40pm marked the end of a turbulent week in which hundreds of thousands of tourists became trapped in Thailand, innocent victims of a political protest.
Air travel in Thailand is set to resume normal operation but at sub-sonic speeds.
The Governor of Phuket, Preecha Ruangjan, went to Phuket International Airport this afternoon to farewell the first plane, wai arriving tourists and talk with tourism chiefs about the future.
Phuketwan at the airport this afternoon found everyone smiling. Over the preceding days, there had been plenty of tears.
Many French people flying home from Phuket sought help from theTourism Authority of Thailand, a TAT spokesperson said.
Some were bumped off overcrowded flights, more often than other nationalities. The TAT assisted them in finding emergency accommodation.
Thai Airways is resuming international flights from the capital from 5pm today, with passengers advised to check in five hours in advance.
Enormous amounts of delayed cargo, caught up in Bangkok, are now also on the move.
Buses were still necessary to move tourists. One complement of 29 left Phuket at noon and another is due to leave at 8pm.
Don Mueang, Bangkok's second airport, was also shut down in the invasion by anti-government protesters. It will be open again from Thursday for domestic flights.
But there are still tens of thousands of tourists seeking a way out of the country. Mass flight cancellations left them trapped in Thailand.
Phuket International Airport remains an important hub for the exodus and evacuation flights because the capital's airports will take days to return to normal.
An extra Jetstar exodus flight carried about 300 Australians back to Melbourne yesterday and a regular flight this evening will carry another 303 to Sydney.
Another extra Jetstar flight will head for Melbourne on Thursday about 10.30pm.
The latest airline announcements are:
SAS Scandinavian Airlines yesterday operated three flights connecting Phuket and Scandinavia after operations were cancelled at the overextended U-Tapao military base, near Bangkok. In a notice posted on its website, SAS confirmed that a scheduled Copenhagen-Bangkok flight will land in Phuket instead, and was postponed from December 2 to 3. The return Bangkok-Copenhagen flight for just after midnight the same day will change to a Phuket-Copenhagen flight. The airline says, ''SAS expects to resume operations to Bangkok thereafter. This would include normal operations of the next Stockholm-Bangkok flight, scheduled to depart Stockholm 04 December at 20.20, local time. Once SAS has received an official confirmation of the reopening of Suvarnabhumi airport, the flights will be confirmed on the website.''
Thai Airways ran one flight from Phuket to Suvarnabhumi this afternoon. International flights are resuming from Suvarnabhumi from 5pm today. Passengers are advised to check in five hours before flights. Special international flights have been set up to Perth and Frankfurt, as well as an incoming flight from Frankfurt. Another special flight from U-Tapao to Phuket landed this morning. THAI also announced that Don Mueang will re-open tomorrow, and that domestic flight schedules will be available at all airports in Thailand. Flight information and reservations available at 02 356 1111.
Dragonair this week has doubled the capacity of its regular daily flights connecting Hong Kong and Phuket by using an A330 instead of an A320, the airline announced, though a sign posted at its Phuket airport office earlier said flights were full until December 10.
AirAsia says it will soon make an announcement on when it will resume operation out of its home base of Suvarnabhumi. In the meantime, it is operating out of U-Tapao and the December 2-4 schedule it posted on its website about added flights will remain in effect. AirAsia has set up one extra daily return flight from Phuket to Singapore, another to Kuala Lumpur, and a domestic flight connecting Phuket and U-Tapao airport. AirAsia Phuket Sales Counter Tel: 076 328 601-2.
Malaysia Airlines was scheduled to fly two regular flights to Kuala Lumpur today from Phuket, but larger aircraft enabled 242 passengers to flee on both trips.
SilkAir announced on December 1 that it had added 13 additional flights between Singapore and Phuket for the week ending December 7, in addition to the four or five regularly-scheduled daily flights. This announcement still stands. Each day will have two extra flights, except Sunday, which will have three additional flights. Since the airport closures, SilkAir has been accepting Singapore Airlines tickets between Bangkok-Singapore for travel on Phuket-Singapore or Chiang Mai-Singapore, without additional charges, the airline says. Tel: 02 353 6000, 076 304018/19/20 (24 hours).
Bangkok Airways says on its website today that it is set to start its normal operations from Suvarnabhumi airport ''as soon as possible,'' starting with a return flight from Koh Samui set to take off this afternoon. Passengers holding tickets to flights that had been cancelled due to the airport closures will be put on the first available flights, the airline says. Call 1771 or 0-2265-8777 for reservations.
Touchdown for Flight TG2109 about 12.40pm marked the end of a turbulent week in which hundreds of thousands of tourists became trapped in Thailand, innocent victims of a political protest.
Air travel in Thailand is set to resume normal operation but at sub-sonic speeds.
The Governor of Phuket, Preecha Ruangjan, went to Phuket International Airport this afternoon to farewell the first plane, wai arriving tourists and talk with tourism chiefs about the future.
Phuketwan at the airport this afternoon found everyone smiling. Over the preceding days, there had been plenty of tears.
Many French people flying home from Phuket sought help from theTourism Authority of Thailand, a TAT spokesperson said.
Some were bumped off overcrowded flights, more often than other nationalities. The TAT assisted them in finding emergency accommodation.
Thai Airways is resuming international flights from the capital from 5pm today, with passengers advised to check in five hours in advance.
Enormous amounts of delayed cargo, caught up in Bangkok, are now also on the move.
Buses were still necessary to move tourists. One complement of 29 left Phuket at noon and another is due to leave at 8pm.
Don Mueang, Bangkok's second airport, was also shut down in the invasion by anti-government protesters. It will be open again from Thursday for domestic flights.
But there are still tens of thousands of tourists seeking a way out of the country. Mass flight cancellations left them trapped in Thailand.
Phuket International Airport remains an important hub for the exodus and evacuation flights because the capital's airports will take days to return to normal.
An extra Jetstar exodus flight carried about 300 Australians back to Melbourne yesterday and a regular flight this evening will carry another 303 to Sydney.
Another extra Jetstar flight will head for Melbourne on Thursday about 10.30pm.
The latest airline announcements are:
SAS Scandinavian Airlines yesterday operated three flights connecting Phuket and Scandinavia after operations were cancelled at the overextended U-Tapao military base, near Bangkok. In a notice posted on its website, SAS confirmed that a scheduled Copenhagen-Bangkok flight will land in Phuket instead, and was postponed from December 2 to 3. The return Bangkok-Copenhagen flight for just after midnight the same day will change to a Phuket-Copenhagen flight. The airline says, ''SAS expects to resume operations to Bangkok thereafter. This would include normal operations of the next Stockholm-Bangkok flight, scheduled to depart Stockholm 04 December at 20.20, local time. Once SAS has received an official confirmation of the reopening of Suvarnabhumi airport, the flights will be confirmed on the website.''
Thai Airways ran one flight from Phuket to Suvarnabhumi this afternoon. International flights are resuming from Suvarnabhumi from 5pm today. Passengers are advised to check in five hours before flights. Special international flights have been set up to Perth and Frankfurt, as well as an incoming flight from Frankfurt. Another special flight from U-Tapao to Phuket landed this morning. THAI also announced that Don Mueang will re-open tomorrow, and that domestic flight schedules will be available at all airports in Thailand. Flight information and reservations available at 02 356 1111.
Dragonair this week has doubled the capacity of its regular daily flights connecting Hong Kong and Phuket by using an A330 instead of an A320, the airline announced, though a sign posted at its Phuket airport office earlier said flights were full until December 10.
AirAsia says it will soon make an announcement on when it will resume operation out of its home base of Suvarnabhumi. In the meantime, it is operating out of U-Tapao and the December 2-4 schedule it posted on its website about added flights will remain in effect. AirAsia has set up one extra daily return flight from Phuket to Singapore, another to Kuala Lumpur, and a domestic flight connecting Phuket and U-Tapao airport. AirAsia Phuket Sales Counter Tel: 076 328 601-2.
Malaysia Airlines was scheduled to fly two regular flights to Kuala Lumpur today from Phuket, but larger aircraft enabled 242 passengers to flee on both trips.
SilkAir announced on December 1 that it had added 13 additional flights between Singapore and Phuket for the week ending December 7, in addition to the four or five regularly-scheduled daily flights. This announcement still stands. Each day will have two extra flights, except Sunday, which will have three additional flights. Since the airport closures, SilkAir has been accepting Singapore Airlines tickets between Bangkok-Singapore for travel on Phuket-Singapore or Chiang Mai-Singapore, without additional charges, the airline says. Tel: 02 353 6000, 076 304018/19/20 (24 hours).
Bangkok Airways says on its website today that it is set to start its normal operations from Suvarnabhumi airport ''as soon as possible,'' starting with a return flight from Koh Samui set to take off this afternoon. Passengers holding tickets to flights that had been cancelled due to the airport closures will be put on the first available flights, the airline says. Call 1771 or 0-2265-8777 for reservations.
