Azur Air Strands More Passengers in Thailand as Flight Disruptions Mount

MOSCOW, Feb 8 – The Russian charter carrier Azur Air has announced further delays for travelers trying to leave Thailand, adding two more flights to its growing list of disruptions. Flights ZF-2994 from Phuket to Vladivostok and ZF-2902 from Phuket to Moscow, scheduled for February 9, have been postponed. The airline stated that affected passengers have been accommodated in hotels while they await new departure times.

Azur Air sought to downplay chaos, insisting that as of 4:30 PM Moscow time on February 8, there were no crowds of stranded passengers at Phuket International Airport. The company even shared a video on its Telegram channel showing calm airport scenes to support its claim.

However, the airline acknowledged significant operational challenges. In a statement, its press service explained that coordinating passenger services over the weekend of February 7-8 has been severely hampered by extreme congestion at the Phuket airport and a shortage of available hotel rooms during the peak tourist season.

These latest delays follow an incident on Friday, February 6, when an Azur Air flight bound for Moscow (ZF-2904) was forced to return to Phuket due to a technical issue. A replacement aircraft was dispatched, but the knock-on effect forced the airline to reshuffle its entire schedule. Three other flights to Moscow, Chelyabinsk, and Novosibirsk managed to depart on the afternoon of February 8, but the system appears to be struggling to recover.