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SAS continues to bring customers back from Thailand 

 

SAS Scandinavian Airlines will operate three flights from Phuket to

Scandinavia in order to bring the remaining stranded passengers back to Europe.

  

Flight SK975, Stockholm-Bangkok, will depart Stockholm Monday night as scheduled at 20.20, but will fly to Phuket airport. 

Flight SK973, Copenhagen-Bangkok, scheduled for departure on Monday night, will be postponed until tomorrow morning to avoid congestion at Phuket airport.

Flight SK976, Bangkok-Stockholm, will depart Phuket 02 December. Departure

time is estimated at 14.25, local time.

 

An additional flight, SK6972, will depart Phuket 02 December. Departure time

is estimated at 08.30, local time. 

 

Flight SK972, Bangkok-Copenhagen, will depart Phuket 03 December. Departure time is estimated at 00.25, local time.

The airline said as U-tapao airport has now been stretched beyond its capacity, SAS has deemed it  is not possible to continue operations at U-tapao airport. SAS flights will instead be operated to and from Phuket in southern Thailand.

Its Airbus A340 that has been stuck at Suvarnabhumi Airport since Monday has now been able to take off from the airport and has arrived in Phuket to commence traffic back to Scandinavia.  

 

For SAS passengers in Thailand: Affected passengers in Thailand may contact SAS' Bangkok office on +66 2661 6111.

Thai Airways International will operate 32 special flights for passengers with confirmed reservations on Friday.

Passengers must have confirmation re-routing and rescheduling at THAI offices, before checking in at city terminals at Centara Grand Hotel and Bitec. At Bitec, passengers must check in at least 7 hours before departure. THAI will check in for passengers and provide transfer from Bitect to U-Tapao Airport in Rayong.

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Qantas would operate a second relief flight between Phuket and Singapore early Wednesday December 3.

The Chief Executive Officer of Qantas, Alan Joyce, said the airline would operate its first special relief flight, also between Phuket and Singapore, tonight local time. It will operate a special 297-seat A330300 service tonight between Phuket and Singapore, and a second flight will now operate early Wednesday morning local time.

Passengers on these flights will be bussed from Bangkok to Phuket and then be booked on first available Qantas and British Airways flights to Australia and the UK.

Joyce said Jetstar would also operate its scheduled Melbourne-Bangkok service tomorrow via Phuket, with passengers bussed between Phuket and Bangkok, and continue to operate its scheduled threetimesaweek Sydney-Phuket services.

"These three special flights will provide around 900 seats out of Thailand," Mr Joyce said.

"We will continue to closely monitor the situation and look at adding more capacity if necessary."

Until further notice, Qantas' scheduled Bangkok services will continue to operate via Singapore.

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Thailand's small private airline, PB Air, has temporarily stationing its aircraft, the maintenance crew as well pilots and cabin crew at Hua Hin Airport from December 1, 2008.

The airline has been contacted by several airlines as well international charter companies to bring passengers to the various destinations.

The fleet of PBair consists of two modern Embraer ERJ145LR regional jets with an all economy seat capacity of 50 passengers. The reach of those aircraft is 1,550 nautical miles thus regional destinations such as Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore can be serviced.   

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Air France/KLM

Air France and KLM announced it would provide two flights Monday and Tuesday for passengers who are stranded in Thailand. The two airlines will operate one flight on December12 from Phuket Airport.

Departure from Phuket December1 with Boeing 747-400 flight operated by KLM to Amsterdam Departure from Phuket at 19.00 Arrival in Amsterdam at 04.00 on the next day.

Departure from Phuket on 2 December, use Boeing 747-400 flight operated by Air France to ParisCharles de Gaulle Departure from Phuket at 23.30pm on December2. Arrival in Paris at 05.50 am on the next day.

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Jet Airways will operate two flights from Bangkok to India on Monday December 1.

BKK-BOM departure 8pm. Buses will leave Bangkok at 2pm.

BKK-CCU departure 00.01am. Buses will leave Bangkok at 5 pm.

All passengers must contact the town office for confirmation rerouting and a check-in number. The phone number is 02-696-8980 or 02-696-8960. Passengers who do not contact the office and do not have a check in number will not be accepted.

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Bangkok Airways has launched special flights between Hua Hin and Samui twice a day during December 1st until further notice in order to serve passengers going to Singapore or Hong Kong via Samui, it announce Monday.

According to its press release, the flights schedules from and to Hua Hin will be as follows:

Hua Hin - Samui    dep:   14.00 hrs. and 17.00 hrs.

Samui - Singapore   dep:   16.35 hrs. and 20.30 hrs.

Samui - Hong Kong  dep:   22.00 hrs. and 11.35 hrs.

Hong Kong - Samui dep:  17.05 hrs. and 04.00 hrs.

Singapore - Samui  dep: 20.10 hrs. and 01.30 hrs.

Samui - Hua Hin  dep: 15.30 hrs. and 18.30 hrs.

A complimentary transfer service will leave four hours prior to each flight departure from Bangkok Airways' Head Office (99 Vibhavadi Rangsit Road).

Additionally, the airline also operates between U-tapao-Siem Reap/ U-tapao-Luang -Prabang/ U-tapao-Maldives/ U-tapao-Guilin/ U-tapao-Samui/ and U-tapao-Phuket.

For more information, call 1771, or 0-2265-8777 or log on www.bangkokair.com.

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AOT sets protocol to retrieve empty planes

Airports of Thailand has set the protocol for airlines who are going to retrieve their empty planes at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

 1. The airlines' pilot and crew must meet with AOT at the first floor of the airport maintenance facility.

lin says:

2.  AOT would coordiate with the control tower to prepare for takeoffs.

3.  AOT provides a vehicle to the parking bay.

4. Via "Follow me" vehicles, AOT takes the crew to the aircraft.

Airlines can contact 02-133-1761, 02-133-1730, 02-133-1729 for more information.

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All tourists and travellers who cannot travel to their destinations, for more information regarding accommodation, can contact the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA) ( Tel: +66 2 237- 6064 - 8, +66 2 632-7400 - 2), as well as the following Hotlines:

 - 1414 : Ministry of Tourism and Sports

 - 1672 : Tourism Authority of Thailand

 - 1155 : Tourist Police



For any tourist whose visa has expired since 26 November, 2008, till the airport reopens, there will be no penalty or charge for overstay from the Immigration Bureau. However, tourists must show their original tickets to avoid being charged.

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All Nippon Airways will add a special flight from Bangkok's U-Tapao on Tuesday.

 All Nippon said the flight will leave Thailand at 1.30pm and arrive at Narita at 9.30pm.

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