KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has activated a contingency plan to cater for its passengers stranded in Bangkok due to the closure of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

In a statement, MAS director of operations Datuk Tajuden Abu Bakar said, "We are activating this contingency plan to provide an alternative for our passengers in Bangkok who are keen to go to their final destinations.

"Instead of operating out of Bangkok, we have temporarily shifted our flight operations to the U-Tapao International airport in the province of Rayong, located about 190 km from Bangkok and around 20 km from Pattaya. This alternative is in addition to our twice daily flights from Phuket which is also open on seat-available basis to our ticket holding passengers who wish to travel out of Thailand.

"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 hope this will provide our customers another suitable option for their return from Thailand. The Thai authorities 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. Likewise customers who wish to travel on any one of our twice daily flights from Phuket will also have to make it to the island resort on their own," he added.

The revised flight schedules for today and tomorrow are as follows:

> Flight MH 782 will leave KLIA at 3.15pm today for U-Tapao, instead of Bangkok and the return flight MH 783 is scheduled to depart U-tapao at 5.10pm. This will be operated using a 294-seater Airbus A330-300 aircraft.

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

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

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

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

> Flights MH788 and MH784 using a 294-seater Airbus A330-300 aircraft will depart KLIA at 9.10am and 12.25pm tomorrow respectively for U-Tapao.

> The return flights MH789 and MH785 will depart Utapo at 11.05am and 2.15pm 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.

Customers can contact MAS' 24-hour Call Centre at 1 300 88 3000 in Malaysia. In Thailand, they can contact the MAS Bangkok Office at +662-2630572 or +662-1343184 and its Phuket office at +667 213749, +667 6216675 and +667 6234467 from 8.30am to 9pm for updates.