Malaysia Airlines has temporarily shifted its operations to the U-Tapao International airport in the province of Rayong, located about 190 kilometres from Bangkok and around 20 kilometres from Pattaya.

This alternative is in addition to its twice daily flights from Phuket which is also open on seat-available basis to ticket holding passengers who wish to travel out of Thailand, the airline said in a statement released in Kuala Lumpur Friday (28 Nov).

Malaysia Airlines' Director of Operations, Dato Tajuden Abu Bakar said, "Whilst we will not be operating the full complement of four daily flights, due to the minimal facilities that we could arrange at U-Tapao airport, we do hope this will provide our customers another suitable option for their return from Thailand.

"The relevant authorities in Thailand are providing us full support for operating out of U-Tapao and we will accept all passengers holding valid tickets for travel out of Bangkok at no additional cost. However, customers will have to reach U-Tapao on their own to travel on our flights.

"Likewise customers who wish to travel on any one of our twice daily flights from Phuket will also have to make it to this city on their own," he added.

The revised flight schedules for the next two days are as follows:

28 November 2008

Flight MH782 will leave KLIA at 3.15 p.m. for U-Tapao, instead of Bangkok and the return flight MH783 is scheduled to depart Utapo at 5.10 p.m. This will be operated using a 294-seater Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

Flights MH788 and MH784 scheduled to depart KLIA at 9.10 a.m. and 12.25 p.m. as well as the return flights MH789 and MH785 departing from Bangkok at 11.05 a.m. and 2.15 p.m. have been cancelled.

Flight MH780 from KLIA and MH781 from U-Utapao will be activated if there is sufficient demand.

Flight MH786 departing KLIA at 9.35 a.m. for Phuket and the return flight MH787 from Phuket departing at 10.30 a.m. will be upgraded to an Airbus A330 aircraft.

Flight MH790 departing KLIA at 6.10 p.m. for Phuket and the return flight MH791 from Phuket departing at 7.05 p.m. will also be upgraded to Airbus A330 operations.

29 November 2008

Flights MH788 and MH784 operated using a 294-seater Airbus A330-300 aircraft will depart KLIA at 9.10 a.m. and 12.25 p.m. respectively for U-Tapao.

The return flights MH789 and MH785 will depart Utapo at 11.05 a.m. and 2.15 p.m. respectively.

Flights MH782 and MH780 from KLIA and return flights MH783 and MH781 from U-Tapao will be activated if there is sufficient demand.

Both daily flights between KLIA and Phuket will be operated on schedule, with one return frequency upgraded from B737-400 to Airbus A330-300 operations.

In the event Suvarnabhumi International Airport is open for flight operations, Malaysia Airlines will resume its flights between KLIA and Bangkok.

Customers are encouraged to contact Malaysia Airlines 24-hours Call Centre at 1 300 88 3000 in Malaysia. In Thailand, they can contact our Bangkok Office at +662-2630572 or +662-1343184 and our Phuket office at +667 213749, +667 6216675 and +667 6234467 from 8.30 a.m. to 9.00 p.m. for similar updates. (MySinchew)