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  Phuket International Airport
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Text:

Michael E. Fader

Pictures:

Guido Bühlmann & Michael E. Fader


 

 

The new Restaurant with excelent view to the Runway (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

   

Our reporter team Guido Bühlmann and Michael E. Fader spent the winter in Thailand again and took the opportunity to record airplanes at the Phuket airport. Guido used a new location in a small restaurant near the runway. The advantage is that the planes can also be photographed during take-off. The alternative location is on the beach, which allows idyllic shots of the landing planes over the beach and also offers some other motifs.

   

The Mai Khao Beach (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

The Mai Khao Beach (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boats on the Beach (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

(Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

   

Domestic Airlines

   

Six Thai airlines fly to Phuket. Thai Air Asia serves the destinations Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Hong Kong and Singapore. Nok Air serves Don Muang, Ubon Ratchathani and Beijing, Chendu Hangzhou in China, these planes stand out due to their colorful painting which resembles a bird - in Thai "Nok". Bangkok Airways is the only airline that flies to Phuket with turboprop aircraft (ATR-72). It mainly serves smaller airports such as Kho Samui and Hat Yai as well as Chiang Mai and Bangkok.

Thai Smile ceased operations at the end of 2023 and the service to Bangkok is now operated by Thai International. The same aircraft are used, so they still have the Thai Smile livery but carry the new lettering. Thai Lion Air maintains several connections to China and only flies with Boeing 737 aircraft. Another low-cost airline is Thai VietJet Air, which is a subsidiary of Vietnam's VietJet Air. It serves several destinations in Thailand and, of course, Vietnam.

   

Airbus A321-neo HS-EAB, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A320-216 HS-ABO, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-216 HS-ABO, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-216 HS-ABM, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-216 HS-ABU, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

   

Airbus A320-216 HS-BBL, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-216 HS-BBL, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-216 HS-BBR, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A320-216 HS-BBR, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A320-216WL HS-CBA, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

   

Airbus A320-216WL HS-CBI, Thai Air Asia (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-214 9M-AFE, Air Asia (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 737-88L(WL) HS-DBT Nok Air (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 737-88L(WL) HS-DBT Nok Air (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Boeing 737-8AS HS-DBO Nok (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

   

Boeing 737-8AS HS-DBO Nok (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 737-8AS HS-DBO Nok (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 737-86J(WL) HS-DBQ Nok Air (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A320-232 HS-PGW Bangkok Airways (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-232 HS-PPE Bangkok Airways (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

   

Airbus A319-132 HS-PPW Bangkok Airways (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

ATR-72-600 HS-PZD Bangkok Airways (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

ATR-72-600 HS-PZF Bangkok Airways (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-232 HS-TXA Thai International (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader) Airbus A320-232 HS-TXC Thai International (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
   
Airbus A320-232 HS-TXF Thai International (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader) Airbus A320-232 HS-TXT Thai International (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader) Boeing 737-8GP HS-LUY Thai Lion Air (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader) Boeing 737-8GP HS-LUQ Thai Lion Air (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader) Boeing 737-9GP(ER) HS-LTT Thai Lion Air (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)
   

Airbus A321-211 VN-A645 VietJet Air (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-214(WL)  HS-VKF Thai VietJet Air (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-214(WL)  HS-VKS Thai VietJet Air (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-214(WL)  HS-VKT Thai VietJet Air (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Cessna 550 Citation Bravo HS-EMT (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

         

International Airlines

   

Phuket offers many international connections, Singapore Airlines and Scoot serve Singapore, Air India and IndoGo to Dheli and Mumbai and Batik Air to Malaysia, the Gulf region is represented by Emirates and Qatar. Europe is connected by Finnair, Sunnclass Airlines and some charter lines of TUI Airways and Edelweiss, Turkish Airlines operates to Istanbul.

   

Boeing 737-8 MAX 9V-MBB Singapore Airlines (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 737-8 MAX 9V-MBC Singapore Airlines (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 737-8 MAX 9V-MBI Singapore Airlines (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 737-8SA 9V-MGK Singapore Airlines (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A321-271NX 9V-NCA Scoot (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

   

Boeing 737-8 Max 9M-LRC Batik Air  (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader) 

Airbus A320-251N VT-CIP Air India (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A321-252NX VT-ILP IndiGo (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A321-252NX VT-ILC IndiGo (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A321-252NX IVT-IBB IndiGo (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

   

Boeing 777-31H(ER) A6-EGG Emirates (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Boeing 777-31H(ER)A6-EPN Emirates (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 777-3ZG(ER) A7-BOF Qatar Airways (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader) 

Airbus A350.941 OH-LWE Finnair (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann) 

Airbus- A330-941 OY-VKO Sunclass Airlines  (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann) 

   

Boing 787-9 Dreamliner SE-RFZ TUI Airways (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader) 

Boing 787-9 Dreamliner G-TUIC TUI Airways (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader) 

Boing 787-9 Dreamliner G-THUI TUI Airways (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann) 

Airbus A340-313 HB-JMD Edelweiss Air (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann) 

Airbus A330-303 TC-JOK Turkish Airliens (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann) 

       

Although there are very few Chinese tourists on the island of Phuket, several airlines from China fly to Phuket. These include HK Express and Cathay Pacific from Hong Kong, Spring Airlines and Junevao Airlines from Shanghai and Air China from Beijing.

   

Airbus A321-231 B-LED HK Express (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A321-231 B-LEG HK Express (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A340-343 B-HLR Cathay Pacific (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-neu B-30CM Spring Airlines (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A320-neu B-30CM Spring Airlines (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

   

Boeing 737-800 B-1719 9-Air (Junevao Airlines)  (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A320-200 B-6941 Air China (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Dassault Falcon 7X B-8218 Beijing Airlines  (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Embraer ERJ-135B Legacy OK-SYN (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Embraer ERJ-135B Legacy OE-101 (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

       

Russian airlines and airlines from former Soviet republics are still well represented and present a loophole for Russians who want to travel abroad. Airlines that are represented: Azur Air from Krasnoyarsk, Aeroflot from Moscow, Ikar Nordwind from Orenburg, Red Wings Airlines from Moscow, SCAT Airlines Symkent Kazakhstan, Sunday Airlines Almaty Kazakhstan, Air Astana Almaty Kazakhstan and Qanot Sharq Airlines Tashkent Uzbekistan

   

Boeing 767-3Q8/ER)RA-73030 Azur Air (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Boeing 767-3Q8/ER) RA-73030 Azur Air (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Boeing 777-3M0(ER) RA-73136 Aeroflot (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Boeing 777-3M0(ER) RA-73134 Aeroflot (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 777-2Q8(ER) RA-73272 Ikar Nordwind (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

   

Boeing 777-2Q8(ER) RA-73272 Ikar Nordwind (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Boeing 777-21H(ER) RA-73330 Red Wings Airlines (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Boeing 737-9 Max UP-B3726 SCAT Airlines (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 737-9 Max UP-B3726 SCAT Airlines (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 737-82R(WL) UP-B3730 SCAT Airlines (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

   

Boeing 737-9 Max UP-B3739 SCAT Airlines (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 767-332ER UP-B6703 Sunday Airlines (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Boeing 767-332ER UP-B6703 Sunday Airlines (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Boeing 767-3KY(ER) EI-KEA Air Astana (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

Airbus A321-neo UK-32111 Qanot Sharq Airlines (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)

   

Armed Forces and Police

   
 

In addition to the Royal Thai Navy, which maintains a base on Phuket, the air force is also represented in Phuket, often flying high-ranking personnel to the island. Another user of the airport is the Royal Thai Police, which has a helicopter stationed there. In January 2024, our photographer Guido Bühlmann had the opportunity to photograph the Police Fokker F50 on a supply flight.

 
       

Fokker 50 # 27228 Royal Thai Police (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

   

Fokker 50 # 27228 Royal Thai Police (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Bell 429 Global Ranger #3209 Royal Thai Police (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Cessna Summit T-337 Sentry #1316 Royal Thai Navy (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A340-541 #60204, Roayla Thai Air Force (Picture courtesy Guido Bühlmann)

Airbus A-320-214SL #60203, Royal Thai Air Force (Picture courtesy Michael E. Fader)


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last update 20. May 2024

Written 1. April 2024

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