Spotting Tips: Phuket Airport (HKT/VTSP)
Caution: Based on data and experiences of January 2008
Introduction
Phuket Airport is Thailand's second largest airport behind Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport. The airport, which is located about 30km north of the bustling resort town of Phuket, sees about
7 Million passengers annually. As it is the main gateway to the tourism destinations around the Phuket peninsula and the whole of southern Thailand, traffic is significant: Besiders scheduled flights by local carriers, there's a fair share of European charter planes dropping in for a visit.
Built close to the sea, the airport offers very nice possibilities for photography when Rwy09 is in use, which seems to be the case most of the time.
 Traffic
There are regular shuttle flights by Thai Airways to Bangkok, using heavy equipment like A300, B777, A330 and even B747. Local carrier Bangkok Airways operates a HUB at Phuket, with A319/A320 and ATR72 taking off to various (tourism) destinations around the country. Phuket is also visited by Thai no-frills carrier Nok Air (737) and One-Two-Go/Orient Thai (MD-80/747), if they get their operating licence back.
Other airlines from the region which serve Phuket include Air Asia (B737, A320), Malaysia Airlines (737), SilkAir (A320) and Tiger Airways (A320).
On the charter side, things are far more unpredictable. Every major European charter airline has connections to Phuket, using their heavy aircraft. Frequent visitors are LTU/Air-Berlin (A330), Transaero (747), Finnair (757!), Thomas Cook (A330) and TUIfly (B747). But there are many others, depending on the season.
The high season for Phuket is european winter (November to February).
For flight information I recommend checking Phuket on www.flightstats.com. The flight information there was about 90% correct during my visits. Traffic intensity varies heavily from day to day, so be sure to plan ahead or you might be heavily bored!
Another good source to see which airlines are currently serving HKT is its Wikipedia entry
Spotting Points
The only good location to spot from is Hai Yang Beach, a long and extremely beautiful stretch of sand that covers the west coast for some kilometers, also around the airport. The beach was even better than the one in my (5 star) hotel, so take your swimming gear with you. There aren't any sunbeds or umbrellas available, and the beach is empty except for some locals having a walk with their families.
This location is only suitable when Rwy09 is in use, which is luckily, most of the time. For the other runway direction there aren't any suitable spots that I know of.
Getting there
Although the beach is basically within walking distance from the terminal, this isn't a good option. Security doesn't like it, because the way leads along the whole apron. So the best option (besides a rental car) is using a taxi.
However, this can be quite an adventure, since most taxi drivers' english skills are somewhat limited. I found this graphic which describes the way to "Phuket Airport Hotel" in thai, and showing it to the drivers worked perfectly. So I encourage you to print this one out (click for larger version)!
If you're driving yourself, that's the description: Driving north on the main road to Phuket airport, about 600m before the airport, look out for a 7-11 supermarket on the right. About 100m after this one,
there's a street heading off to the left (there should be a sign for Phuket Airport Hotel somehwere, but don't rely on that). The hotel's about halfway down that street. If you drive on, it passes a barrier and then takes you right down to the beachfront, where it turns left and heads south again.
Park/Exit in this corner. From there you have to walk north on the beach for about 15 minutes to get to the runway (orange path in the map above).
Graphic by www.phuketairporthotel.com
Location 1: The beach
Not much to say here. Just position yourself anywhere on the beach you like and wait for the arrivals to come. There isn't too much shade available on the beach, and the nearest kiosks/supermarkets are a 20min walk south in the Sirinat Marine Park. So it's best to bring with you what you need.
From here you can take pictures of arriving aircraft. Since you're looking north, the light's basically good throughout the whole day.
Please stay somewhere on the beach and don't set up "base camp" just by the airport fence, as this will upset security and they are likely to send you away!
Getting there: 15min walk along the beach
Equipment: Nothing there, some trees providing shade. Lovely beach though, clear water!
Zoom: Depending on your position on the beach, 100-200mm are fine.
Time: All day (facing north)
Perspectives: Aircraft on finals Rwy09
Example shots:
From quite far away |
Nearer |
Close to the runway axis |
From under the approach path |
Location 2: The mound
On the beach, near the line-up point for Rwy09, there's a mound which allows views over the fence of aircraft taxiing to and lining up Rwy09.
However, security doesn't like people standing there!. On our first day, we were standing on this mound permanently and were sent away from the beach after one hour.
On the second visit, we stayed on the beach and just darted to the mound if there was an aircraft lining up. This worked perfectly and we weren't sent away during the whole day (well, maybe we were just lucky).
Anyway, in order not to upset security, please do NOT stay on the mound for long but return down to the beach as soon as possible!
Getting there:Walk up the beach to the runway
Equipment:same as spot 1
Zoom: 50-100mm for 90° shots
Time: Second half of the day (because facing east)
Perspectives: Taxi, line-up Rwy09, heavy takeoffs Rwy27, vacating Rwy27 (others are too high), (limited views onto apron/terminal)
Example shots:
Taxiing to line-up |
Lining up Rwy09 |
Lined up Rwy09 |
Takeoff Rwy27 |
Vacating Rwy27 before the end |
Security
Strangers: On the beach you should be safe. Although I didn't make any negative experiences with the local people there, it might be a good idea to hide your camera in your bag when there's nothing going on. After all, people around there are mostly rather poor, and even though the Thais are really, really nice, you never know what the sight of such expensive equipment could cause.
Police: Generally, spotters seem to be tolerated, as long as they behave normally and don't stay near the fence for too long. However, if you're told to move away, please do so without starting an argument.
Various: I don't know if there are rip tides in the sea, so be careful when taking a swim. Be aware, there's no lifeguard, no supermarket nearby and shade from trees is rare!
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