A radar power shortage at Suvarnabhumi Airport caused flights to land at nearby U-Tapao Airport, Deputy Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt said.
Mr. Chadchart said that an uninterruptible power source (UPS) supplying electricity for the radar system experienced problem on Thursday evening, and the back-up power supply was not working. Engineers took around 40 minutes to repair it.
Six flights that were running out of fuel opted to land at U-Tapao, then re-fueled and flew back to Suvarnabhumi.
The radar system at Don Muang Airport was not functioning at that time either because “it was under the single aircraft navigation system covering both Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi,” Chadchart said.
Chadchart said the incident caused delays of 40 minutes for incoming flights while the longest delay for departing flights was three hours.
