« Prev Page 4 of 4 2 3 4 You cannot reply to this topic Go to first unread post 94 replies to this topic

[NBT TV Phuket]

18.05: PAD in Phuket insists they would stop protests only if the Prime Minister resigns, while the Phuket International Airport still closed with no clear re-opening time

A representative from the PAD Uthai Suksirisamphan insisted that if the Prime Minister, Samak Sundaravej, resigns after seeking an audience with HM the King this evening, they then would dissolve from the airport. This follows the meeting between Phuket Vice Governor Worapote Ratasrima, Provincial police, Mr. Uthai and representatives of 9 airlines this afternoon. The Phuket Vice Governor re-affirmed that the authority has no policy to deal violently with the protestors. Mr. Uthai said if the Prime Minister resigns the protestors will open their blockade of the airport and if the airport flights are still being blocked it would be not from their action.
The airline representatives requested that the airport only re-open when 100% safety is assured and that the airport should not announce developments every 6 hours as it would cause confusion to foreign airliners.
The airport re-opening is therefore not scheduled yet, despite the original plan of 6 pm today as protesters are still rallying in front of the airport. The number of protesters also increased in the late afternoon.
---------
The Phuket Tourist Association and Thai Hotel Association Southern Chapter in Phuket have sent messages requesting their hotel members take care of out-going guests who got delayed by the protest, by giving special room rates with light meals. The PTA can be contacted at 076 – 222177. The Phuket Airport contact number for tourists is 076 351144

Edited by NBT TV Phuket, 2008-08-30 18:15:11.

[Likeki]

Flight Stats website shows 4 flights as landed on time at Phuket. 2 at 3PM and 2 at 5PM. Also shows no flights have departed.

[BlueSmurf]

wELL THANKS TO REPORTS FROM pHUKET....i HAVE FLIGHTS BOOKED FOR MY FAMILY OF 5 FROM CHAING RAI TO BANGKOK THEN ON TO PHUKET TOMORROW! I have been to the airport in chaing rai to get some info..I was told did not know anything i.e. airport open or closed in Phuket..I know its closed..ask them what i could do if i cannot go? They told me to phone the help desk. As i thought and expected they are too busy and do not answer no real problem as by the look of it i would only be stuck in bangkok and as i have a 4 year old not really a option..What did anoy me was that i can only change my ticket by getting through on the phone or going to Bangkok. They also said i could not get a refund only a credit! when i said 2 of my family would be back in the uk soon( flights alowing) they said no problem i could give the flights to someone else!! How generous of them!!!
Hope this brings a smile to someone as i think we are lucky to be here in chaing rai rather than in stuck in Phuket...I would still like to go as we live here so will see what happens tomorrow..T.I.T.
p.s. Hope all who take a bus get there in one piece!!!!!!!!!!!! lol

[NBT TV Phuket]

18.35 Tourism sector in Phuket plead for the PAD to allow flights to resume as the suspension has severely damaged tourism and economy

Phuket Tourist Association (PTA) and Thai Hotel Association (THA) Southern Chapter at 5pm this afternoon held a press conference pleading with the protestors to allow flights to resume at Phuket International Airport as the suspension has already severely damaged the tourism and economy. In the statement, Mr. Metee Tanmanatrakul, President of THA Southern Chapter, estimated the loss of around 250 million baht per day. He said Thai people as host country should allow foreign tourists to return home safety after visiting the Andaman region. He emphasized that the impact of the protest not only has immediate impacts, but will be felt in the next 4 – 5 years while tourism is the ‘big pot of rice’ for people in this region. The PTA and the THA Southern Chapter insist that they do not make any conclusion which side is right or wrong, but sees that foreign tourists should not be affected or responsible for the internal conflict.

[NBT TV Phuket]

18.50: PAD members still gather peacefully at Krabi International Airport
At 6 pm today the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) still make a peaceful rally in front of the terminal of Krabi International Airport while it is still closed for all flights with no time scheduled to re-open. No protesters are in the runway area as no flights are allowed in or out. Krabi Governor Siwa Sirisaowalak ordered police officers to station there, but with no confrontation or violence. If the rain does not come this evening, the numbers of protesters are expected to increase.

[mjperry]

Likeki, on 2008-08-30 18:11:00, said:

Flight Stats website shows 4 flights as landed on time at Phuket. 2 at 3PM and 2 at 5PM. Also shows no flights have departed.

The flights shown as landed were scheduled departures from Phuket to Bangkok not arrivals into Phuket, its actually 2 flights not 4 as well, the other 2 listed are code shares with Thai Airways flights. The updates for the two flights happened at almost the exact same time. Presumably as those flights never left Bangkok yesterday, hence still sitting on the tarmac there Thai are just clearing out the old flights from their systems trying to get ready for if/when they can start flying again. And it looks far better for statistics purposes that these flights landed on time than actually being cancelled

[Maestro]

Likeki, on 2008-08-30 13:11:00, said:

Flight Stats website shows 4 flights as landed on time at Phuket. 2 at 3PM and 2 at 5PM. Also shows no flights have departed.

I can't see that on my screen. See attachment and this flightstat.com page:
http://www.flightstats.com/go/FlightStatus...mp;x=7&y=11

The “actual” arrival times are marked as “estimated times” and the flight status is shown as “scheduled”. For some reason the legend does not get included when printing to PDF and I attach it separately.
--
Maestro

Attached Files

•  20080830_flightstats_HKT.pdf   312.44K   2 downloads
•  20080830_flightstats_legend.gif   2.65K   4 downloads

[CHAIYES]

GG VTBSSKTX

301110 VTBDYNYX

(C4916/08 NOTAMR C4913/08

Q) VTBB/QMRLC/IV/NBO/A/000/999/0807N09819E005

A) VTSP B) 0808301110 C) 0808311100

E) RWY09/27 CLSD)



The above has just been issued by the Civil Aviation Department of Thailand to all aviation industries worldwide.
In simply english, Phuket airport is officially closed to all operations until 1800 local Thailand time on the 31st Aug 08.

[Maestro]

Aside from flightstats.com, the following web sites may be useful for checking on flight arrivals and departures at the tree airports mentioned in the title of this topic:

For Phuket (HKT)airport:
http://www.phuketair...ine.com/node/12

For Hat Yai (DDY) airport:
http://www.airportthai.co.th/airportnew/ha...nfo.asp?lang=en

For Krabi (KBV) airport:
http://www.krabiairp...m/flight-status

For Phuket and Krabi, the times shown in the column "arrival" are scheduled times. Look at the column "status" to see if the flight really arrived or left. For Hat Yai, the site seems useless as it gives no flight status, just a time-table.

Strangely, most airlines list their flights as "scheduled" when in fact they cancelled them. Notable exceptions are Singapore Airlines and Silkair.
--
Maestro

[Maestro]

CHAIYES, on 2008-08-30 14:14:31, said:

...The above has just been issued by the Civil Aviation Department of Thailand to all aviation industries worldwide.
In simply english, Phuket airport is officially closed to all operations until 1800 local Thailand time on the 31st Aug 08.

Thank you, Chayes, for decoding and posting that.
--
Maestro

[saneroad]

The latest local news I've seen about the situation @ Phuket airport is here: http://phuketwan.com/article/tourism/phuke...an-the-tsunami/

[Maestro]

Seeing a decision was made to restrict this topic to posts related to the airport closure and to information about flights and alternative transportation to Phuket, Hat Yai and Krabi I have now gone through the entire thread from the beginning and removed all posts not meeting those criteria. If any member needs a copy of his deleted posts for his memoirs or whatever please send me a PM and I’ll see what I can do.
--
Maestro

[Likeki]

Great info and easy to follow now. I have decided to not even try until the 1st now. Thanks for all the real info from everyone thanks!!!!

Rich

[simon43]

It's 21.35 now and I just got some important news, (but as yet unconfirmed). A colleague tried to drive their car off Phuket Island and over the Sarasin Bridge which connects Phuket with the mainland (PhangNga province). however, they were turned back by PAD protesters who have shut the bridge!

I can only confirm this by driving up to the bridge - so I might do this and report back.

Simon

[ozymandious]

simon43, on 2008-08-30 21:37:14, said:

It's 21.35 now and I just got some important news, (but as yet unconfirmed). A colleague tried to drive their car off Phuket Island and over the Sarasin Bridge which connects Phuket with the mainland (PhangNga province). however, they were turned back by PAD protesters who have shut the bridge!

I can only confirm this by driving up to the bridge - so I might do this and report back.

Simon

Sigh, cringe, hold head in disbelief.... wait for more info.

Please let us know what's going on Simon and please say it aint so... (Re the bridge)

[Peewee]

ozymandious, on 2008-08-30 15:56:02, said:

simon43, on 2008-08-30 21:37:14, said:

It's 21.35 now and I just got some important news, (but as yet unconfirmed). A colleague tried to drive their car off Phuket Island and over the Sarasin Bridge which connects Phuket with the mainland (PhangNga province). however, they were turned back by PAD protesters who have shut the bridge!

I can only confirm this by driving up to the bridge - so I might do this and report back.

Simon

Sigh, cringe, hold head in disbelief.... wait for more info.

Please let us know what's going on Simon and please say it aint so... (Re the bridge)

It realy would be helpful to know if the Sarasin Bridge is closed as I had planned to drive up to Bangkok (I am asumimng the airport will still be closed on Sunday) with my family, which includes a baby, on Sunday morning in order to get a flight back from Bangkok to the UK tomorrow night.

If anyone with knowledge of the area could report the situation it would be great help.

Thanks in anticipation

[sloopy]

Tourists stuck in Thailand
Article from:

AAP

August 30, 2008 11:10am

HUNDREDS of Australian travellers are stuck in Thailand after protesters forced the closure of three airports.

The resort island of Phuket was the first airport to shut its doors, followed by Krabi and Hat Yai in the country's south as protests spread across the country yesterday.

Jetstar diverted its Sydney-Phuket flight to Bangkok last night.

A spokeswoman says Australian passengers booked on the return flight, from Phuket to Sydney, had been provided with accommodation as they wait for the airport to re-open.

The spokeswoman could not specify how long the 265 passengers will have to wait.

"(Passengers) in Phuket have been accommodated, if they haven't been able to remain in their hotels that they were already staying in," the spokeswoman told AAP today.

"Once we've got the advice from DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) and the airport is open then we will know that we can operate out.

"That's the situation until we have advice that we can operate out."

More than 5,000 protesters invaded Phuket International Airport yesterday, storming its two runways and preventing passengers from going in or out, according to an Agence France-Presse report.

The low-cost carrier flies between Sydney and Phuket three times per week.

The airport protests came as thousands of activists have laid siege to Bangkok's Government House calling for Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to resign.

DFAT updated its travel advice for Thailand last night to highlight the risk posed by the political unrest, on top of long-standing warnings about the threat of a terrorist attack.

"There are on-going large political demonstrations in Bangkok, a number of which have been disruptive and have blocked access to key buildings and roads," the department warns.

"The demonstrations have also affected access to some airports including in Bangkok, Phuket, Hat Yai and Krabi and disrupted some rail and air services."

Thailand's southern provinces continue to have a "Do not travel" rating, while for the whole country tourists are urged to show a "High degree of caution".

[LivinLOS]

test post.. This thread is acting weird and wont let me load posts after post 75.

[unomi]

forum trouble?

[hellohello]

A friend who was stranded in BKK yesterday, has boarded his plane right now heading to Krabi -this morning- Sunday 8am. He said the plane was full of people trying to get to Phuket. We'll see if he arrives. - Sorry I don't know what carrier.