Krabi airport rushes to restore power, so Sunday evening flights can land and take off
Transport Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit has instructed the Krabi International Airport to urgently restore electricity before Sunday evening, after the airport was engulfed in darkness on Saturday, affecting several flights and hundreds of passengers.
The blackout at the airport occurred at 8.30pm on Saturday after a short circuit in a manhole at the third aircraft hangar blew out the mains.
Without lights guiding the runway, three flights were unable to take off and had to be cancelled. They were Thai Vietjet VZ345 with 193 passengers, Bangkok Airways PG264 with 145 passengers and Fly Dubai FZ1482 with 170 passengers.
The minister ordered the airport to ensure stranded passengers were comfortable.
By Sunday morning, Krabi airport managed to partially restore power to reactivate its Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI), a visual landing aid system used at airports to guide pilots during their final approach to the runway.
With PAPI reactivated, flights can take off and land during the day, though the airport is trying to restore runway lights for flights to take off and land at night as well. The airport has, however, prepared portable runway lights in case electricity cannot be fully restored by Sunday night.
