Phuket Air Jet Provisionally Seized - Unpaid Bills

[george]

Phuket Air Jet Provisionally Seized Due to Obligations

SOUTH KOREA: -- A Phuket Air plane was placed under provisional seizure on Friday just ahead of takeoff at Incheon International Airport because of debt owed to its local sales company.

On Friday, a local court approved the provisional seizure of a B747-300 plane of Phuket Air, which was requested by TV Club, a Korean general sales agent for the Thai carrier.

The move came because the airline failed to pay its debts owed to TV Club after it withdrew operations from Korea last month.

It is the first time that an airplane has been seized in the nation.

Phuket Air, which operated the Inchon-Bangkok route and planned to start an Inchon-Phuket route in mid-July, suddenly scrapped operations on July 15 without notice.

It is known that the airline allegedly signed a double contract with Japan and Korea.

About 5,000 Korean customers who made ticket reservations had to change their vacation plans.

The last plane was scheduled to return to Bangkok on Aug. 10. But it could not take off as the airline¡¯s subcontractors refused to provide their services and demanded that the carrier pay back the 237 million won in debt.

The carrier gave a signed promissory note to the Incheon International Airport authority and paid its obligations. It planned to take off for Thailand at 7:10 p.m. Friday after receiving permission for operation from the Seoul Regional Aviation Administration.

However, the permission was cancelled as TV Club applied for the provisional seizure of the plane with the Incheon District Court, claiming that the airline¡¯s unilateral cancellation of the sales contract is unreasonable.

The company demanded that the airline pay back a total of 1.22 billion won, including 1 billion won for contract money and some 200 million won it offered to passengers as compensation for flight delays.

It also claimed that the unsettled debt will damage travel agencies that sold Phuket Air tickets.

According to the ruling, Phuket Air needs to apply for a flight permit after depositing the money with the court.

The court ruling was made about an hour ahead of takeoff and a court official arrived just minutes before the plane was set to go.

The plane will remain at the airport until Phuket Air takes proper action against the provisional seizure.

--Korea Times 2005-08-22

[Thaipwriter]

Phuket Air Jet Provisionally Seized Due to Obligations

SOUTH KOREA: -- A Phuket Air plane was placed under provisional seizure on Friday just ahead of takeoff at Incheon International Airport because of debt owed to its local sales company.

On Friday, a local court approved the provisional seizure of a B747-300 plane of Phuket Air, which was requested by TV Club, a Korean general sales agent for the Thai carrier.

The move came because the airline failed to pay its debts owed to TV Club after it withdrew operations from Korea last month.

It is the first time that an airplane has been seized in the nation.

Phuket Air, which operated the Inchon-Bangkok route and planned to start an Inchon-Phuket route in mid-July, suddenly scrapped operations on July 15 without notice.

It is known that the airline allegedly signed a double contract with Japan and Korea.

About 5,000 Korean customers who made ticket reservations had to change their vacation plans.

The last plane was scheduled to return to Bangkok on Aug. 10. But it could not take off as the airline¡¯s subcontractors refused to provide their services and demanded that the carrier pay back the 237 million won in debt.

The carrier gave a signed promissory note to the Incheon International Airport authority and paid its obligations. It planned to take off for Thailand at 7:10 p.m. Friday after receiving permission for operation from the Seoul Regional Aviation Administration.

However, the permission was cancelled as TV Club applied for the provisional seizure of the plane with the Incheon District Court, claiming that the airline¡¯s unilateral cancellation of the sales contract is unreasonable.

The company demanded that the airline pay back a total of 1.22 billion won, including 1 billion won for contract money and some 200 million won it offered to passengers as compensation for flight delays.

It also claimed that the unsettled debt will damage travel agencies that sold Phuket Air tickets.

According to the ruling, Phuket Air needs to apply for a flight permit after depositing the money with the court.

The court ruling was made about an hour ahead of takeoff and a court official arrived just minutes before the plane was set to go.

The plane will remain at the airport until Phuket Air takes proper action against the provisional seizure.

--Korea Times 2005-08-22

I doubt it if Phuket Air are too bothered by this.

They paid KLM about 10,000 Baht for this plane so its no great loss

[Ricardo]

and starting the bidding, for 1 used ex-Poo-Air jet

I might risk a hundred baht - anyone want to go shares with me ?

[AsiaWolfie]

very bad management , a ridiculous homepage and the Tsunami are responsible for this slow death of Phuket air...... its just a question of time when they are OFF from the market.....

[george]

Phuket Air jumbo seized in S Korea – twice

SEOUL: -- A Phuket Air jumbo jet has been seized in South Korea after the carrier’s owner, Phuket Airlines Co Ltd, allegedly failed to settle debts owed to its local sales agent.

The Nation in Bangkok reported August 23 that the Boeing 747-300 had been impounded at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul.

The aircraft had initially been banned from flying back to Bangkok from Incheon on August 10 after the company failed to pay 237.6 million won (about 9.25 million baht) in maintenance and other service fees.

Three days later the debt was settled. But minutes before the aircraft’s planned return to Bangkok on Friday, Phuket Airlines was hit by a separate lawsuit, and the 747 was again impounded by the South Korean authorities.

The Korea Times said a court had approved the provisional seizure of a Phuket Air plane, a move requested by its local sales agent TV Club, when the airline allegedly failed to honor debts owed to TV Club after it abruptly withdrew operations from Korea last month.

The agent is claiming 1.22 billion won (47 million baht) in damages for losses it says were sustained because of the airline’s decision to suspend flights between Incheon and Phuket in July.

It was the first time a commercial airliner had been seized in South Korea, the newspaper added.

According to the ruling, Phuket Air needs to apply for a permit to fly out of the country after depositing the money owed with the court. The aircraft will remain at Incheon International Airport until Phuket Airlines does so.

Phuket Air has been plagued with problems since April, when an aircraft was prevented from leaving Sharjah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates after passengers saw fuel po uring from a wing. The company said at the time that the wing had been “over-filled” with fuel.

Later, a Bangkok-bound flight had to return to London after developing hydraulics problems, and the airline was banned from flying into the UK and the Netherlands after safety inspectors found “serious” faults on aircraft, and a plane was impounded at London’s Gatwick Airport for non-payment of landing fees.

The company then canceled its Bangkok-Bali route, saying that passenger numbers had slumped because the ban on flying from Amsterdam had robbed its Bali service of “feeder” flights.

Since the beginning of August, Phuket Airlines has also owed several hundred thousand taka in taxes, landing charges, and equipment rental at Chittagong Airport to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Biman Airlines.

Repeated attempts by the Gazette to contact Phuket Air for comment were unsuccessful.

--Phuket Gazette 2005-08-23

[Maestro]

a ridiculous homepage

De gustibus non est disputandum, or, everyone to his taste.

You caused me to look at the home page of Phuket Air and I find nothing wrong with it. There is what probably most visitors to that page seek: an easy way to make a flight reservation online. Most airlines do the same, including Lufthansa (www.lufthansa.com)

[george]

PHUKET AIRLINES LEGAL DISPUTE

Deposit at court could secure jet

BANGKOK: -- Phuket Airlines will place a US$1.2-million deposit with the South Korean court to get back its Boeing 747-300 jumbo jet now impounded at Incheon International Airport over a legal dispute with a local sales agent.

The privately owned Thai carrier sent a legal advisory team to Seoul this week to clear up its dispute with TV Club Travel.

"Our first priority is to secure our jumbo jet back and secondly to fight (TV Club Travel) them in the court," Chawanit Chiamcharoenvut, executive vice-president of Phuket Airlines, told the Bangkok Post yesterday.

Korean authorities impounded the jumbo jet as it was about to take off on Aug 19, at the request of the TV Club Travel. The South Korean company had filed a lawsuit, claiming that Phuket Airlines owed it $1.2 million in damages over losses sustained from the suspension of chartered flights between Incheon and Bangkok in July.

Phuket Airlines terminated the contract with TV Club Travel in July after the Korean firm failed to pay the aircraft charter fees on several occasions.

It flew almost 30 flights between Incheon and Bangkok starting in June for TV Club Travel with the last flight supposed to leave on Aug 10. The original contract was due to expire in September 2006.

But the return flight to Bangkok was aborted when the International Airport Corp, which runs the airport, refused the embarkation until the airline paid up about US$230,000 in aircraft support and service fees including fuel and catering bills owed by TV Club Travel.

Phuket Airlines settled the bills on Aug 18 and then was hit by a separate lawsuit from TV Club Travel on the following day as it was about to fly the aircraft back to Bangkok.

The airline's top management will discuss with its legal advisory team, which was due to return from Seoul yesterday, the course of legal proceedings that needed to be taken from here.

As of yesterday, it was too early to say when the aircraft, which has been parked on the Incheon tarmac for two weeks, would be permitted to fly back.

Vikrom Aisiri, the owner of Phuket Airlines, has insisted that the airline was not at fault for the default on the agreement or non-payment of various charges. The impounding of the aircraft is costing the company $6,000 per flying hour in lost business opportunities, he added.

Thailand's Department of Aviation has also questioned the legitimacy of South Korean officials' actions in a civil case.

There has been no response from Seoul authorities since the notice was served to them on Aug 19. TV Club Travel could not be reached for comment.

--Bangkok Post 2005-08-28