Phuket flights disrupted as haze creeps north
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The haze from Indonesian forest fires that has been blanketing Singapore and parts of Malaysia in recent weeks has now drifted as far as southern Thailand.
Traffic at Phuket International Airport was disrupted on Thursday, with three inbound flights forced to divert due to poor visibility.
The Bangkok Post reports that a Russian charter flight, operated by Katekavia, was forced to land at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport yesterday morning, while domestic Bangkok Airways and Nok Air flights also returned to the capital.
Two flights from Singapore, operated by Jetstar and SilkAir, were forced to delay their approach into Phuket until visibility improved.
Bangkok Airways issued a statement yesterday urging passengers on Phuket-bound flights to contact the airline’s call centre before leaving for the airport.
Operations at airports in Indonesia and Malaysia have been disrupted for several weeks now, usually in the morning, as haze reduces visibility to dangerously low levels. Earlier this month Langkawi Airport, which lies close to the Thai border, was forced to close for three hours due to the haze.
Yesterday’s disruption at Phuket Airport was another sign that the haze is spreading north; a Vietnamese meteorology expert this week blamed the current smog in Ho Chi Minh City on the Indonesian forest fires.
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