PHUKET, 13 August 2014 – Phuket Airport authorities are now helping more than 300 Chinese holidaymakers who have been left stranded at the airport due to technical problems of their flight.
According to the airport’s Fraud Prevention and Tourist Assistance Center, this group of tourists has been left behind since August 10th by the City Airways airline operator. They were scheduled to return to Hong Kong after their holidays, but the aircraft that was supposed to pick them up broke down in Bangkok due to a technical malfunction.
Reports indicate that the malfunctioning City Airways aircraft failed to meet international safety standards, making it unable to fly back to Hong Kong. However, the airline did not take action to quickly designate a replacement aircraft to pick up the stranded passengers, causing the upset tourists to file complaints to the Chinese Embassy in Thailand.
Meanwhile, the airline has decided to solve the problem by dividing the stranded tourists into three groups comprising 100 people each at this point. The first group is put up at a hotel in Phuket at the airlines’ expense to wait for an available flight, whereas the second group is waiting at the airport for a connecting flight to Bangkok. The third group has decided to extend their trip in Thailand since no flights could be arranged at this point.
