Bangkok Airways Jet Crashes; Flights to Resume Wednesday

A Bangkok Airways ATR72 aircraft has crashed after skidding off the runway at Samui Airport.

Flight PG 266, which was flying from the popular tourist destination of Krabi, also in Southern Thailand, crashed while landing in heavy wind and rain on Tuesday afternoon.

The aircraft veered off to the right and smashed into an old air control tower causing damage to the front of the plane, and killing the pilot Captain Chatchai Punsuvan. Medical services used the rear doors to help remove passengers.

Injuries, some serious, have been reported and one fatality, the pilot, confirmed. There was 68 passengers, 2 cabin crew and 2 pilots on the aircraft when it crashed.

The emergency number for concerned family is: +662 265 8777. The number is in Thailand and is not toll free.

“On behalf of Bangkok Airways, I would like to, again, express my sympathy towards our passengers and crews who have been affected from the unfortunate accident of PG 266 in Samui, particularly my deepest condolence to the family of Captain Chatchai Punsuvan, who lost his life in this accident. While the investigation of this accident remains underway, Bangkok Airways’ management reassures that we continue to take safety as priority in all aspects of our operations,” said Captain Puttipong Prasattong-Osoth, the President of Bangkok Airways, “We are conforming to our Crisis Management standard in order to regain our status in normalcy the fastest possible.”

As a result of the accident Thai Airways, one of the few other airlines to use Samui Airport which is owned by Bangkok Airways, cancelled two return flights - TG287 and TG288.

There were 149 passengers booked on flight TG287 and 143 passengers booked on flight TG288. Thai Airways said it has arranged hotel accommodation for these passengers.

Once Samui Airport reopens, Thai Airways will operate flights as normal, and has organised two special flights to help the stranded passengers unable to fly today.

These special flights are:

Flight TG2879 which will depart from Suvarnabhumi Airport at 09.40 hours and arrive in Samui Airport at 10.45 hours; and

Flight TG2889 which will depart from Samui Airport at 11.25 hours and arrive in Suvarnabhumi Airport at 12.30 hours.

Bangkok Airways expects to resume its normal operations after 13.00 on Wednesday. The airline will reroute and add extra flights to Surat Thani Airport as follows:

Bangkok-Surat Thani / Surat Thani-Bangkok
PG 5111 06.00-07.50
PG 5112 07.45-08.50 (extra flight)
PG 103 06.00-07.05
PG 104 07.45-08.50
PG 121 07.30-08.35
PG 122 09.15-10.20
PG 5125 08.00-09.05
PG 5126 09.45-10.50 (extra flight)
PG 123 08.15-09.20
PG 217 10.00-11.05
PG 127 09.00-10.05
PG 128 10.45-11.50
PG 805 09.40-10.45
Chiang Mai-Surat Thani / Surat Thani-Chiang Mai
PG 242 09.55-11.40
PG 138 12.20-13.25

Bangkok Airways is a small regional airline that likes to be known as "Asia's Boutique Airline". In addition to domestic routes within Thailand, the airline also flies to numerous destinations in China, Singapore, the Maldives and other popular tourist spots in the region.

Krabi and Samui are both extremely popular tourist destinations with foreigners and Thais alike. To combat the current tourism downturn being experienced globally but especially in Thailand, the airline recently launched a Flyer Pass promotion to help boost numbers.

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