M O R E Problems At The Airport

[sriracha john]

sheesh... add another log onto the fire of problems...

More problems at new airport

Passenger boarding bridges need repairs

Suvarnabhumi airport has another flaw _ 11 passenger boarding bridges are damaged, two of them seriously, according to a source at Airports of Thailand (AoT). Officials are looking into the cause of the problem, but cannot yet say whether it is due to substandard steel, improper installation of the airbridges or the failure of staff of Thai Airports Ground Services Co (TAGS) to operate the moveable bridges properly. The bridges at gates D5 and F1 must be closed due to the serious nature of the damage and their walls must be replaced. The bridges at gates G5, G3, F5, D6, C7 and B4 are slightly damaged but still usable. The bridges were built by ITO Joint Venture, which is the airport contractor, and AoT contracts TAGS to operate them.

Continued here:

http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/05Feb2007_news01.php

[Maejo Man]

First some gates were closed due to the fact that planes could not aproach them because of cracked taxi ways, and now those left are falling apart! Will anybody be able to fly in or out in a few months time?

[thai_narak]

Suwanaphum is falling apart...

[PhilHarries]

First some gates were closed due to the fact that planes could not aproach them because of cracked taxi ways, and now those left are falling apart! Will anybody be able to fly in or out in a few months time?

Yes, are these the same 11 gates first reported or another 11 (popular number) or is this an ever changing story?

I would have thought that these airbridges are standard package units, with various optional differences to suit local conditions, and would have been supplied, installed and commissioned by an overseas sub-contractor. Typically with this kind of equipment you are supplied with a basic standard unit thus the potential for saving costs by using sub-standard steel is much reduced as material costs are peanuts in the overall scheme of things. Also the supplier of the equipment normally is bound to a guarantee period, typically 18 months after delivery or 12 months after start of operation, so with free corrective actions it is not in the interests of the supplier to provide poor quality.

[PeaceBlondie]

Let's start a guessing game for what could possibly go wrong next. Some possibilities:

1. A crash on the ground.

2. A mid-air collision between two planes.

3. The taxi drivers invade customs and immigration.

4. King Power closes because they don't have enough space.

5. Before the rainy season sets in , the roof falls in.

6. The few chairs now available, fall apart.

7. All the toilets back up with raw sewerage.

8. Thaksin lands and can't get to the terminal.

[sriracha john]

Workers make repairs to the damaged passenger boarding bridge at Gate D5 at Suvarnabhumi airport.

Bangkok Post

[Who, me ?]

the shame will never end.....

Agreed with your post, PeaceBlondie, and I think that unfortunately you might add more....

[gummy]

Let's start a guessing game for what could possibly go wrong next. Some possibilities:

1. A crash on the ground.

2. A mid-air collision between two planes.

3. The taxi drivers invade customs and immigration.

4. King Power closes because they don't have enough space.

5. Before the rainy season sets in , the roof falls in.

6. The few chairs now available, fall apart.

7. All the toilets back up with raw sewerage.

8. Thaksin lands and can't get to the terminal.

Can not agree on 2) because as we have heard from other threads apparently BKK ATC is one of the best there is. However not sure about point 8) but if that was rumoured then point 9) would have to be:- The current senior governmental Senior office holders and ther families together with old "wanabee again" ruling elite have been unable to board their aircraft at short notice owing to further failures in the baggage handling systems, Immigration officials being far too hot to expedite VIP escapes, oops immigration checks and most probably being unable to get to the airport on time due to the Expressway being blocked by the entire Thai police force welcoming the homecoming of their friend and saviour.

[Who, me ?]

Let's start a guessing game for what could possibly go wrong next. Some possibilities:

1. A crash on the ground.

2. A mid-air collision between two planes.

3. The taxi drivers invade customs and immigration.

4. King Power closes because they don't have enough space.

5. Before the rainy season sets in , the roof falls in.

6. The few chairs now available, fall apart.

7. All the toilets back up with raw sewerage.

8. Thaksin lands and can't get to the terminal.

Can not agree on 2) because as we have heard from other threads apparently BKK ATC is one of the best there is. However not sure about point 8) but if that was rumoured then point 9) would have to be:- The current senior governmental Senior office holders and ther families together with old "wanabee again" ruling elite have been unable to board their aircraft at short notice owing to further failures in the baggage handling systems, Immigration officials being far too hot to expedite VIP escapes, oops immigration checks and most probably being unable to get to the airport on time due to the Expressway being blocked by the entire Thai police force welcoming the homecoming of their friend and saviour.

2) seems that not 1 but 2 near miss have been recorded the last few days....

[sohb]

6. The few chairs now available, fall apart.

Well this is true : -) They are falling apart in this very moment, have a look at some of the chairs outside AirAsia checkin's i.e., some cheap sh.it they've found at Ikea maybe ...

[thai_narak]

number 5 is very probable...

[britmaveric]

Left off terminal floods.....

[sriracha john]

or someone drives off one of the parking garage upper floors...

or contracts either typhoid/hepatitis/cholera through their fecal-contaminated luggage that were soaked from the cracked toilet piping on the floor above...

[Maestro]

number 5 is very probable...

My vote goes to this one, too. If not part of the roof, then part of a wall.

And I go further and predict that as soon as Don Muang is ready, not only non-connecting domestic flights but all flights, domestic and international, will be transferred back do Don Muang.

--

Maestro

[sriracha john]

Number 4 is going in the opposite direction:

King Power has 'more space than was allotted to it'

An official investigating alleged contract violations by King Power has urged General Saprang Kalayanamitra to act against the duty-free operator.

In a special interview with Nation Group editor Thepchai Yong, General Pathompong Kesornsuk, chairman of a subcommittee investigating King Power, said it was clear that the company had violated its contract by changing a floor plan, setting up too many stalls and blocking the passage of passengers.

Pathompong said he had reported his findings to Saprang, who is the chairman of the Airports of Thailand (AOT) board of directors, and said Saprang would have to act against King Power.

Following is an excerpt from the interview, which was aired on Channel 5:

The first thing passengers will see after the immigration area in Suvarnabhumi Airport is the "Churning of the Milky Ocean" sculpture. It looks nice, but was it designed to be like this?

When they proposed the contract, it should have been the Suphannahongsa royal barge. But it turned out this way. In fact, this area should be the walkway to the gate. It was wrongly designed.

Can passengers walk through this area now?

Not yet, because we have to overhaul the management to ensure convenience for the users. Originally, the left side was supposed to be the conveyor belt area. But they took it away and replaced it with duty-free shops. Now, the problem is that there are duty-free shops on both sides. The centre of the area is the commercial area and small bars. The traffic is congested. The problem is worse for physically impaired passengers.

The contract said an area of 5,000 square metres should be utilised. But we calculated that around 10,000 square metres have been used - 6,000 square metres more than the original agreement.

Looking at the original blueprint, the shop area should be located on one side only. Who has given them the right to change the blueprint?

We asked a lot of people and they said that a subcommittee endorsed the amendment. And Srisook Shandrangsu presided over the subcommittee.

Will this sculpture be changed?

According to the contract, if things didn't turn out according to the agreement, there are two options: to revoke or to ask for compensation. Some said they were willing to compensate. But we should not forget that maybe compensation is not permissible.

But they said the Airports Authority of Thailand was fully aware of the space utilisation.

That's what I told General Saprang, that he has to take care of the issue. How could the board agree with the agreement?

The committee of Khun Pathompong solidly found the irregularities.

We have found the irregularities from the document that we received. It breached the agreement when we looked at the area and measured it. It was difficult to walk from that point to the aircraft on time.

It takes time because it's quite a distance. It does not help people who travel overseas. This area should not have had anything. People should be able to walk through. But they opened the area and showed that there was a walkway with chains to close it. If the area is open, people may be able to walk through but the aisle is pretty narrow. There is no sign to tell people. To sum up, they thought of only the commercial benefits.

Beverage shops should not exist, should they?

They didn't exist in the blueprint. The thing is that after the company wins the bid, the amendment has to be approved by AOT. And who is the authorised person of that board? It was Srisook. He has to take the responsibility. The big board that was chaired by the previous prime minister should also be involved.

Now the sculpture is treated like a sanctified object?

To this point, they were trying to do many things to maintain it or to attract attention.

- The Nation

[PeaceBlondie]

What's this: vendors encroaching upon the pedestrian walkways? Why, no such things has ever been witnessed in Khrungthep, Chiang Mai, Khon Kaen, Hua Hin, Pete's-on-a-look, Surin, or anywhere in Thailand. Vendors encroach upon a public area? Unheard of.

[dwwin]

8 would be al right with me. He could keep standing out there and sinking slowly into the swamp.

[popshirt]

King Power has 'more space than was allotted to it'

<big snip>

Now the sculpture is treated like a sanctified object?

To this point, they were trying to do many things to maintain it or to attract attention.

- The Nation

Did this piece actually appear in The Nation? I can't believe that a professionally managed English language newspaper would allow such sloppy English to go to print. Call me a pedant if you wish, but I can't take the news seriously when it is written as if for a middle-school newspaper.

[BAZZAT]

Let's start a guessing game for what could possibly go wrong next. Some possibilities:

1. A crash on the ground.

2. A mid-air collision between two planes.

3. The taxi drivers invade customs and immigration.

4. King Power closes because they don't have enough space.

5. Before the rainy season sets in , the roof falls in.

6. The few chairs now available, fall apart.

7. All the toilets back up with raw sewerage.

8. Thaksin lands and can't get to the terminal.

How about Thaksin lands cannot get his fags because King power is close for alterations, then finding that he has left his umbrella on the plane, try to sit down because he has delhi belli, to find that there is no taxi's because they have all applied for custom's & immigration jobs to top it of he's at the wrong terminal

[p1p]

Rainy season will bring Legionaires disease in the air and leeches in the knee deep flood water. Landings restricted to float planes.

Oh - and don't forget the place's namesake. What would Cobra Swamp be without cobra snakes slithering around.

[ChangMaiSausage]

What next??

An outbreak of Bird Flu?