14 flights detoured as Phuket airport’s runway flooded
Flights scheduled to land at Phuket International Airport diverted to other airports because of floods, poor visibility
Fourteen flights scheduled to land at Phuket International Airport on Sunday morning were detoured to other airports because of floods and poor visibility.
Phuket airport director Monchai Tanode said a total of 14 flights that were scheduled to land at the airport from 7am to 9.30am had to be detoured to the Surat Thani, Langkawi, Krabi, Penang, Suvarnabhumi, and Don Mueang airports.
He said poor visibility and floods prevented pilots from seeing the runway so they had to detour.
Because of the detours, passengers waiting for four flights had to wait for more than an hour, Monchai said.
He said the flights had to wait for the visibility to improve before they could return to the Phuket airport to pick up the passengers, mostly for international flights.
Meanwhile, Sopon Thongsai, chief of Phuket disaster prevention and mitigation office, said the northern part of Phuket was hardest hit by heavy rain and floods.
He added that Thalang district was the hardest hit and officials rushed to install water pumps to speed up drainage of floodwater.
Phuket Governor Sophon Suwannarat said he instructed local officials to coordinate with naval officers from the Third Naval Area to speed up draining of floodwater since early in the morning.
