"Don Muang airport could reopen to ease congestion
AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK
Don Muang airport, which closed in late September after 92 years of service, may return as
Bangkok's second airport because
Suvarnabhumi airport is now congested. Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um said passenger and airline inconvenience at
Suvarnabhumi airport had prompted airline operators to demand
Don Muang airport be reopened, and revive a plan to use both
Suvarnabhumi and
Don Muang airports to serve
Bangkok's air traffic.
Yesterday, he chaired a meeting with current and former executives of Airports of
Thailand (AoT) and representatives of the Civil Aviation Department, low-cost airlines and the Airline Operators Committee.
The government of deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra changed the dual-airport policy to a single-airport policy.
Mr Sansern said AoT would now review its
Suvarnabhumi master plan. He believes AoT proposed expanding
Suvarnabhumi without considering its actual physical limitations. AoT planned additional land acquisition and as many as six runways for
Suvarnabhumi, he said.
Mr Sansern said working groups would consider the re-use of
Don Muang airport, review the
Suvarnabhumi master plan and tackle passenger inconvenience at
Suvarnabhumi.
An AoT source said a prompt decision on reopening
Don Muang could allow
Bangkok to serve heavy traffic during the upcoming New Year and Chinese New Year festivals, as
Suvarnabhumi airport could not handle any more flights. Its peak traffic stands at 76 flights an hour.
Tassapon Bijleveld, chief executive of low-cost Thai AirAsia, said
Suvarnabhumi airport had neither office space for his airline nor cafeteria for airline staff.
''
Today the government has admitted that Suvarnabhumi is congested and has reached full capacity since its opening just three months ago, '' he said.
Re-using
Don Muang would relieve traffic at
Suvarnabhumi, and could allow traffic of low-cost airlines to grow 20-30% annually in the next 4-5 years.
Udom Tantiprasongchai, chief executive of Orient Thai Airlines which runs the One-Two-Go budget carrier, said Don Muang should be reopened to serve domestic flights by low-cost airlines"
Article tire du
Bangkok Post d'aujourd'hui jeudi 21 decembre 2006
Aujourd'hui, le gouvernement a admis que
Suvarnabhumi est congestionné et a atteint sa pleine capacité depuis son ouverture il y a juste 3 mois!
Faut le faire!
Don Muang pourrait donc re-ouvrir pour accueillir les compagnies "low cost" ainsi que leur traffic qui devrait croitre de 20 a 30% annuellement dans les 4/5 prochaines annees.
Restera plus qu'a construire une navette style "Sky Train" entre les deux aeroports afin de les relier efficacement et rapidement.