A historic breakdown of air-traffic control systems at Bangkok’s main airport put U-Tapao-Pattaya International Airport into the role of emergency backup again, with some flights destined for Suvarnabhumi International diverted to Sattahip.
The Bangkok hub lost both main and backup power supplies to its control tower, which failed for an hour, the longest outage at a world-class airport in 45 years. A total of 49 flights were affected; 21 take-offs and 15-landings were delayed and 13 flights were rerouted or sent back to their originating airport.
A Saudi Arabian cargo plane, one of 10 flights diverted to U-Tapao, sits on the tarmac waiting clearance to return to Suvarnabhumi.
The incident further inconvenienced international airlines that have been struggling since June 11 with the 60-day maintenance shutdown of one of Suvarnabhumi’s two runways. That has delayed about 100 flights a day.
Rear Adm. Pangpol Sirisangkhai, commander of Royal Naval Air Division, said none of the 10 U-Tapao-diverted flights deplaned passengers at the military-operated airfield. Planes simply refueled and waited for Suvarnabhumi’s radar to come back online, then flew back.
Bangkok airport officials told the media planes had to be diverted to U-Tapao and other cities, and not Don Muang International Airport, because Bangkok’s other airport uses the same radar system.
