Phuket

Phuket Air to dump London for Amsterdam

Published

15 years ago

April 6, 2005

Phuket Air to dump London for Amsterdam | The Thaiger

BANGKOK: Phuket Air is to axe direct flights between Bangkok and London, citing the impending low season, and will be replacing the route with a new service between Bangkok and Amsterdam.

The airline’s marketing and communications manager, Krona Visutrasai, told the Gazette the London flights had been “suspended temporarily”, and that the company intends to reintroduce the route, but with a “better service”, later.

K. Krona said it was not unusual for airlines to review and alter services according to fluctuations in demand, and that Phuket Air’s services to Phuket, Ranong and Krabi were continuing as usual.

She added that Thai Airways International (THAI) was reducing its Bangkok-London flights, and that the cancellation of the Phuket Air service should make it easier for THAI to fill its planes during the low season. “This would be more beneficial to the Thai airline business as a whole,” she commented.

K. Krona conceded that Phuket Air has suffered because of the tsunami, but she said it was too early to say how the company would react to the diesel price hike.

She added that, in addition to the Bangkok-Amsterdam service, Phuket Air is introducing a direct service between Bangkok and Denpasar, Bali.

Phuket Air is currently facing serious image difficulties following an incident during a refueling stop at Sharjah, in the UAE, on Sunday. Passengers aboard a Phuket Air Boeing 747 en route to London forced the takeoff to be aborted after allegedly seeing fuel pouring from a wing tank.

The airline has denied that there was anything wrong with the first aircraft, blaming passengers for “panicking”.

Many UK newspapers and media sources quoted Gordon MacFarland, Phuket Air’s UK sales manager, as saying that the fuel flowing from the wing had been caused by overfilling of the fuel tanks during the stop, and was not dangerous.

“Are passengers really qualified to know what’s going on? These passengers had come from a tsunami-hit area and were probably nervous,” he was quoted as saying. Many of the passengers had been in Phuket.

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Hua Hin

Southern Thailand braces for rough weather and rain

Published

16 hours ago

October 19, 2019

May Taylor

Southern Thailand braces for rough weather and rain | The Thaiger

The Thailand Meteorological Department issued a weather warning for southern Thailand with torrential rain forecast to hit the region throughout the weekend. The heavy monsoon over the Gulf of Thailand and south of the country is being blamed for the rough weather, with the TMD predicting flash flooding in many areas.

(Phuket, Hat Yai and Hua Hin’s forecast below)

“Waves are expected to reach 2 metres in height in the lower Gulf of Thailand and possibly higher at the height of the storm. Ships are advised to proceed with caution.”

For the north and northeast of Thailand, the TMD forecasts strong winds and cooler mornings as the arrival of the “winter” season, coupled with a moderate high-pressure system, causes temperatures to dip.

Hua Hin’s five day forecast

Phuket’s five day forecast

Hat Yai’s five day forecast

SOURCE: The Nation | weather.com

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Crime

Now you see him, now you don’t… Patong Police hunt foreigner over $30k theft

Published

2 days ago

October 18, 2019

Greeley Pulitzer

Now you see him, now you don’t… Patong Police hunt foreigner over $30k theft | The Thaiger

PHOTO: Patong Police

Patong Police have yet to develop any tangible leads tracking down a foreigner who made off with US$30,000 in cash from a currency exchange booth in Kalim, north of Patong in Phuket, last Tuesday.

The man is about 168 centimetres tall with grey hair and around 60 years old, Patong police told The Phuket News.

“We have no clue what nationality he is.”

He was last seen at the currency exchange booth wearing a purple polo shirt, blue jeans and black cap. Police have checked hotels in the area, police stations across the island and Phuket Immigration, but have yet to join the dots and come up with firm leads.

“Investigators have checked CCTV in the area and collected what evidence we have but we still do not know the man’s name or where he was staying.”

The man had visited the booth several times before Tuesday, when he disappeared with the $30,000 in US banknotes, according to police.

“It was always small amounts”, he added, noting that the amounts didn’t warrant staff at the exchange booth to check the man’s passport before making the exchange.

The man arrived at the booth again at about 1pm on Tuesday, saying that he had 900,000 baht cash to exchange.

SOURCE: The Phuket News

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Crime

Mystery surrounds security guard found dead in his Phuket room

Published

2 days ago

October 17, 2019

The Thaiger

PHOTOS: Phuket Hot News

The security guard of a hotel in Nai Yang, northern Phuket, 52 year old Yingyot Butsabong, from Maha Sarakham province, was found dead yesterday (October 16) in his room. Police remain mystified how the man came to grief.

A woman named Supattra received a call from the hotel he worked at and was informed that he didn’t show up at work yesterday, so she went to his apartment to check on him.

She saw that his room was locked from the inside, so used the key she had in her possession to open the room and found Yingyot laying on the floor, face down. She thought he was just sleeping so she tried to wake him up but once she flipped him, she found that he already passed away.

She immediately called Saku police, and once on the scene, police found that there was some blood on the floor. The man had a 2 centimetre wound on his left eyebrow which was deep into his skull. There was also a wound on his chin about 1 centimetre long and about a centimetre deep. His left eye had a bruise which looked like he was attacked by a hard object.

Police report that he had been dead for around four hours in the room.

The room was not ransacked and there was no sign of fighting or theft. His body has been sent to Thalang Hospital for a detailed autopsy and to look into the cause of death.

SOURCE: Phuket Hot News

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