News Forum - Phuket flight cancellation due to earlier cancelled flight, runway maintenance

[Thaiger]

After pandemonium at Phuket International Airport on Thursday night with a flight cancellation stranding 300 passengers overnight, airport and tourism authorities say they’re more prepared and it won’t happen again. It all started when budget airline Thai VietJet cancelled a flight from Phuket to Bangkok minutes before take-off last night because staff couldn’t find a seat for one passenger. But further details show the problems were compounded by maintenance that closed the runway overnight and an earlier flight cancellation from Bangkok. The VietJet plane was already taxiing on the runway ready to fly to Bangkok on its scheduled 8.25pm departure. […]

The story Phuket flight cancellation due to earlier cancelled flight, runway maintenance as seen on Thaiger News.

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[KaptainRob]

More holes in this story than Swiss cheese although the initial confusion appears to stem from a Phuket News article, since updated, but still showing inconsistencies.

TVJ operates A320's with either 180 or 230 seats. 

The 300 pax mentioned appears to be the total number of persons affected, including those from by another TVJ flight which was cancelled.   Runway repairs caused closure of the airport at 11pm.

The only service which almost departed at 8.25pm was carrying additional pax from the other flight ... except they had over-loaded.  Due to unknown factors the flight did not simply off-load and resume it's schedule and the runway was closed anyway, denying a departure until the following day.

Something along those lines anyway...   https://www.thephuketnews.com/passengers-stranded-in-phuket-after-overloaded-plane-aborts-takeoff-86428.php

[Soidog]

Airport Operations!  What a shambles they are. I’ve been involved in complex operations in various industries over the years. I’d love a few months at sorting this lot out. 

[Ramanathan.P]

They had Phuket airport taxi issue. Now they have Phuket airport flight issue......looks like in Phuket there are issues in every corner.