Azur Air’s inaugural flight ZF-3701 direct from Vnukovo Airport in Moscow (VKO-HKT) landed at 11.45am, reports Airports of Thailand Phuket branch (AoT Phuket), which operates Phuket International Airport.
The passengers disembarked at Gate 15 of the International Terminal to be welcomed by Kanlayarat Suthipattanakit, Deputy Director of Phuket Airport Business Support Division and support staff.
The arrivals were handed gift bags with souvenirs to remember the occasion.
The report did not comfirm how many passengers were on board.
Russians have led the increase in the number of international tourists arriving on the island since Nov 1, helping the island to hit a new record high of daily arrivals with 9,072 landing in Phuket on Saturday (Nov 19).
The figure marks the highest number of international arrivals at Phuket aiport on any one day since the touism shutdown in 2020.
According to Immigration at Phuket airport, a total of 148,461 international arrivals have entered Thailand at the airport from Nov 1-20. Of those 38,234 were Russian nationals.
Arrivals from India placed second with 19,071, followed by Australia (10,584) and the UK (9,231).
The remaining top six source markets for arrivals in order were: Germany (8,524), Singapore (7,567), Kazakhstan (7,149), Malaysia (5,658), the US (4,956) and South Korea (4,413).