AUTHORITIES in Thailand are examining the back-up systems for power supply at all airports in Thailand after a blackout at Krabi airport.
The six-hour outage on Wednesday saw customs officers working by candlelight and logging some 3,000 tourist arrivals by hand as computers were not working after the back-up power system failed.
“We just look for the whole back-up system,” Chula Sukmanop, director-general of the Department of Airports, told TTG Asia, adding that this would be for all the airports in Thailand, not just Krabi.
This might see the organisation’s manual extended to cover contingencies such as the back-up system failing, he added.
“We have a Plan B but in this case we maybe have to have a Plan C,” Sukmanop told TTG Asia.
The outage was unlikely to affect Thailand’s plans to end its ICAO red flag status, he added. Thailand was red-flagged by the UN agency and Bangkok plan to invite ICAO inspectors next year to have the flag withdrawn.
Said Dr Sukmanop: “This was not a safety measure; it is about an airport.”
The outage was unlikely to have seen a breach in Thailand’s security and let blacklisted individuals sneak back in.
Of the planes arriving at Krabi while the computer system was down, “the majority are charter flights and organised by travel agents so the risk is less than usual…that’s why they were let in,” he added.
Local news reports also added that immigration bureau officers had checked written records with the rebooted computer and found no blacklisted individuals.
Thailand recently moved to blacklist long overstayers. Those who turn themselves in to the authorities after more than 90 days without a visa cannot return to Thailand for a year but those who are arrested for overstaying less than a year face a five-year ban.
