Spotting Report: A Day and a Half at Phuket International Airport

After flying from Tokyo to Seoul onboard an Asiana A380, then to Bangkok on a Thai Airways 777-300ER, and finally to Phuket on a 747-400, it was finally time for the main activity of the trip – plane spotting at Phuket airport.

The First Day: Catching ‘My’ Jumbo’s Departure

Yukihiro arrived before me, and so he picked up the car and then picked me up at the airport terminal. We quickly moved to the spot as a Nordwind 777-300ER was approaching the airport.

That was just one of the three Russian airlines we were able to see that morning. The other two aircraft that brought in tourists from the country included a Pegas Fly 767-300ER and an Aeroflot 777-300ER.

Other than that, there were also some local movements. The most interesting one of those for me was, of course, the departure of the 747-400 that brought me in from Bangkok back to the Thai capital.

With no more interesting aircraft scheduled for a while, we decide to go get a lunch to a nearby shopping center. The restaurant of choice was Black Canyon Coffee, a chain that not only offers excellent Thai ice tea but also Pad Thai and other tasty dishes.

After having lunch and cooling down in the shopping center a bit, it was time to do some more spotting. By this time, the light was getting nicer, and we were able to catch some more local movements including one of the aircraft that I was looking forward to photographing the most – a Lion Air A330.

Separately from that, there were also some more international movements such as a Malaysia Airlines 737 and a Qatar Airways 777-300ER arriving from Doha which was one of the last aircraft we photographed that day.

The very last aircraft I photographed during my first day of spotting in Phuket was a Thai Smile A320.

With the A320 photographed, we headed to our hotel for the night, Holiday Inn Resort Phuket Mai Khao Beach where we also had the dinner before calling it a day.

The Second Day: Some More Russians

The second day started with a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel before checking out and getting “back to work.”

Then, we headed to the “spotting beach,” however, we didn’t stay there for too long as the weather was not ideal.

While heading back from the beach, we also stopped by to get some photos of Crown Nai Yang Suite Hotel which was damaged by the tsunami that hit Phuket back in 2004.

The very first aircraft that we were aiming to catch was a Mahan Air A340-300. Besides that, some of the international movements included an Emirates 777-300ER departing back to Dubai, as well as a Neos 767-300ER.

Besides that, there were several movements from Russia again as well with the day’s highlight for me being a Rossiya 747-400.

Finally, there were several domestic movements including a Thai Airways 747 and 777 as well.

With the weather going downhill (for the time being), we decided to call it a day and head to the same shopping center as the day before for lunch. This time, we had some Japanese food followed by Thai ice tea at Black Canyon Coffee.

Then, since Yukihiro was staying an extra night, we went to his hotel so that I could take a shower and “waste” some time before my night flight to Beijing would depart. Before doing so, though, we decided to briefly visit a nearby temple.

At this point, the weather started improving again, but we still decided to just go to Grand West Sands Resort & Villas Phuket, the hotel that Yukihiro was staying there for the night. We finished the day with yet another Thai ice tea before Yukihiro took me to the airport so that I could catch my flight.

Since the hotel offered excellent views of the airport, I will be reviewing it later on.