Azur Air, Phuket airport silent on plane returned to Phuket after takeoff

PHUKET: Both the aircraft operator and the Phuket airport are still silent on what caused a Russia-bound Azur Air flight to return to the island after takeoff late yesterday (Dec 9). The plane spent around two and a half hours in the air flying in circles before landing back at Phuket International Airport.

An Azur Air fligh returned to Phuket after takeoff yesterday (Dec 9) leaving some 200 passengers stranded. Image: FlightRadar24

According to FlightRadar24, Azur Air’s chartered flight ZF3750 from Phuket to Novosibirsk in Russia was scheduled to takeoff at 3.50pm yesterday (Dec 9) but was delayed.

The 32-year-old Boeing 767 aircraft (RA-73078) finally took off at 9.20pm but then started to make circles over Andaman Sea and Phang Nga Bay before landing back in Phuket at 11.56pm.

It is yet to be explained why the flight had been aborted. The incident resulted in some 200 passengers stranded in Phuket and another 200 not being able to depart in scheduled time from Novosibirsk to Phuket on flight ZF3749. The status of ZF3749 on FlightRadar24 is ’Unknown’.

According to Novosibirsk Airport (Tolmachevo) timetable, the ZF3750 flight from Phuket to Novosibirsk is expected to land only on Dec 11. The ZF3749 from Novosibirsk to Phuket is currently delayed for 10 hours but is expected to depart today.

It is understood that the flight will be performed by a different aircraft, as RA-73078 is still in Phuket. According to Russian authorities, 322 passengers are currently waiting for their delayed flight to depart from Novosibirsk to Phuket.

Last week Novosibirsk local media NGS.ru (Novosibirsk Online) reported that a Phuket-bound ZF2949 flight was delayed due to the aircraft not arriving at Novosibirsk airport on time.

Harald may tell us who of these 160 (????) countries are able to provide new Boeing/Airbus spare parts to Russia. They have to come fron Usa and Europe. And all these countries are united in sanctions, not Usa only, Harald.

only for information for those who believe that russia no longer gets spare parts for boeing and airbus planes because of sanctions. Russia gets it from over 160 countries that are neutral or pro-Russia. they don't play with the sanctions of the terror state usa. by the way, every day some planes from western countries have to cancel flights because of technical problems :-D

Having experienced flying on Russian managed aircraft I am not surprised if there were technical issues. No matter how good their pilots may be lack of maintenance and scarcity of spare parts, now especially, will make them unsafer than usual to be in the air. Thailand is no different to Russia in that they will only tell us what they think we need to know.

For PR of Phuket Airport Government should consider a age limit for arriving planes. A 32 yr old one from Russia that lacks aircraft spare parts as Russia concentrates on a bestial war in Ukraine, soon serious flight accidents may happen. Will be disaster for Phuket Airport/russian tourism. But ok, for the money go on with 'eye flaps', Phuket. :-) Silence about that happening is scary.

It is probably not so strange that Russian planes are having problems now. After they started a war against Ukraine, they no longer get new aircraft parts for their aircraft which are manufactured in the USA and Europe. I'm afraid it could lead to worse things than just delays in the future.

Why not more openess about what has been going on with this aircraft? Was the 2.5 hours circling around needed to consume kerosine to make the aircraft weight wise able to land, or what? If it was a technical matter, why aircraft was allowed to fly twice over Phuket?

Azur Air, Phuket airport silent on plane returned to Phuket after takeoff

Azur Air, Phuket airport silent on plane returned to Phuket after takeoff

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