KUALA LUMPUR: A total of 353 Malaysians were whisked home to safety last night aboard two emergency flights out of Thailand.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) and AirAsia mounted a flight each out of the U-Tapao air base, some 140km southeast of Bangkok, to ferry passengers who were stranded for several days due to the closure of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Passengers arriving at Kuala Lumpur International Airport from Thailand. - NST picture by RAMDZAN MASLAM

The bulk of the evacuees were brought home by MAS, with 290 flying back on an A330-300 aircraft which touched down at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 10.50pm.

The remaining 63 people were flown in on an AirAsia A320-300 aircraft, which arrived at KLIA's low cost carrier terminal at 11.10pm.

Both flights, however, suffered long delays due to the air base's low passenger capacity and limitations on airplane take-offs and landings.
The AirAsia plane touched down some two hours after its scheduled 9.05pm arrival time, due to severe congestion at the air base.

The situation was not helped by the availability of only one X-ray machine at the air base's Immigration checkpoint, said an AirAsia official who declined to be named.

The MAS flight was also delayed for over two hours past its initial 8.15pm scheduled arrival.

MAS officials, however, declined comment regarding the delay or any other details related to the rescue flight, apart from the number of passengers brought back.

AirAsia will mount a second rescue flight today, scheduled to depart from U-Tapao air base at 7.20pm.

The flight, AK661, out of Kuala Lumpur will transit at Singapore before heading towards the air base.

The return trip will go direct to KLIA from U-Tapao.

In a statement, AirAsia said the flight will give priority to those who have been stranded in Bangkok over the past few days and will notify the affected passengers by phone.

MAS will also mount two rescue flights, MH782 and MH780 which are scheduled to depart from U-Tapao air base at 11.05am and 2.15pm respectively.

The national carrier will at the same time continue to operate its two daily flights between KLIA and Phuket, with one upgraded from B737-400 to Airbus A330-300 operations.

MAS will also activate two additional flights between KLIA and U-Tapao if there is sufficient demand.

Both airlines encouraged passengers to contact their respective 24-hour call centres.

For AirAsia, its emergency hotline is 662-5159999 in Bangkok or 03-86604554 in Malaysia.

The MAS call centre can be contacted at 1-300-88-3000 in Malaysia, 662-2630572 or 6621343184 in Bangkok or 667-213749, 667-6216675 or 667-6234467 in Phuket, Thailand.