Jump to content

Thailand to double airport capacity, surpassing Singapore's Changi


webfact

Recommended Posts

Thailand to double airport capacity, surpassing Singapore's Changi

Airport high-speed railway could draw China-Japan investment, says minister

YUKAKO ONO, Nikkei staff writer

 

BANGKOK -- Thailand is embarking on a building spree that promises to more than double the passenger capacity of airports in and around Bangkok, propelling the Thai capital past regional hub Singapore by that measure.

 

In an interview with the Nikkei Asian Review on Thursday, Thai Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said the new U-Tapao airport, a former military air base southeast of Bangkok, will handle up to 60 million passengers a year once it is fully renovated into a civil airport. The entire transformation is expected to take 20 years.

 

Currently, the airport accommodates around 300,000 passengers a year, mostly tourists on chartered flights to and from China and Russia. 

 

Full story: https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Interview/Thailand-to-double-airport-capacity-surpassing-Singapore-s-Changi

 

-- NIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW 2018-2018-09-17

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hopefully they will employ some extra immigration officers, to avoid the disgraceful queues at most of the country's airports. Changi at any time of day, you are through in minutes. Here an hour, sometimes two or more are way too regular, which is a shitty way to arrive in a country, especially if you have flown long haul.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, Aj Mick said:

One wonders why they didn't build an airport with double the capacity in the first place, instead of building swampy Suvarnabhumi, which reached its designed capacity within half a dozen years, 

When Swampy was first proposed it was designed to be a lot larger that Don Muang to to accommodate foreseen expansion in the industry at the time and give DM back to the air force.

Unfortunately it took almost 20 years to get the project off the ground and the goal posts had well and truly moved in that time. As a result DM has to be reopened and then upgraded to meet "unforeseen" demand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

23 minutes ago, webfact said:

The entire transformation is expected to take 20 years.

20 years is a meaningless promise in Thailand where even 90 days is no guarantee. 

 

Why does the TH government always talk about what they WILL DO instead of what they HAVE DONE?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Chang_paarp said:

When Swampy was first proposed it was designed to be a lot larger that Don Muang to to accommodate foreseen expansion in the industry at the time and give DM back to the air force.

Unfortunately it took almost 20 years to get the project off the ground and the goal posts had well and truly moved in that time. As a result DM has to be reopened and then upgraded to meet "unforeseen" demand.

To explain it another way, they can't manage or execute large projects here. Too much corruption and too much politics. Just like Swampy. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, darksidedog said:

Hopefully they will employ some extra immigration officers, to avoid the disgraceful queues at most of the country's airports. Changi at any time of day, you are through in minutes. Here an hour, sometimes two or more are way too regular, which is a shitty way to arrive in a country, especially if you have flown long haul.

Exactly...

The most popular destination and overloaded capacity, yet they've done nothing to improve on the usual problems that multiply - for years.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, webfact said:

 . . . it will handle up to 60 million passengers a year once it is fully renovated into a civil airport.'

60M passengers? That's the present total - i.e. domestic and international - capacity of Swampy. And they say 'the transformation is expected to take 20 years' . . . in other words, the fact that, in only five or ten years, hardly anything will have improved at U-Tapao can be put down to this ridiculously long time-scale. They've done the maths, they've calculated that they want to make U-Tapao 200 times more capable than it is now. All they need to do, having made these grandiose noises, is design it, award construction contracts and build the damn thing . . . 5 years, tops. Just more electioneering hot air if you ask me.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Aj Mick said:

One wonders why they didn't build an airport with double the capacity in the first place, instead of building swampy Suvarnabhumi, which reached its designed capacity within half a dozen years, 

There are of course always the issues of available funds and what the planning parameters tell us - at the time - about future trends. In this instance at least, the Thais are no different from anywhere else in the world - other than the Chinese.

 

On the latter, I have been in 2010 in a railway station in central China - it was brand new & huge, with hardly a train to be seen besides my one. I asked why so huge for a small city. The officials smiled and said: In 10 years there will be 10 million people living here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, Aj Mick said:

One wonders why they didn't build an airport with double the capacity in the first place, instead of building swampy Suvarnabhumi, which reached its designed capacity within half a dozen years, 

 

 

The answer is that it was first planned in 1973 and they took decades to get around to building it. Updating the capacity obviously never occurred to them, as within a very short space of time they had to beg airlines to return to the old airport as they 'no hab loom' for all the people at the new one. Now the old one is also overcrowded. So much for forward planning. Now, 20 years from now, there will be a third 'Bangkok' airport.

No point in saying capacity will exceed Singapore as they probably haven't even checked to see what number Singapore expects 20 years from now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Hopefully they will employ some extra immigration officers, to avoid the disgraceful queues at most of the country's airports. Changi at any time of day, you are through in minutes. Here an hour, sometimes two or more are way too regular, which is a shitty way to arrive in a country, especially if you have flown long haul.

They will do nothing 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

To explain it another way, they can't manage or execute large projects here. Too much corruption and too much politics. Just like Swampy. 

There is some truth to this.  The fact is, Asian cultures in general suffer the side effects of the status system.  In a Western culture, where individuality is regarded highly, it is less likely that a superior will prevent the expression of others' ideas via an autocratic management style.  In collectivist societies, however, innovation is repressed by the higher value of respect of one's superiors--a value which takes precedence over the expression of one's own ideas in order to save face, both for the superior and for oneself.  In the end, any organization where essentially one mind, the one at the top, controls everything, cannot well compete against an organization where many minds work collaboratively.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Having read all posts so far I can confirm that every single one is negative.

 

I passed through Suvarnabhumi last week in both directions - less than 20 minutes through pp control leaving, less than 30 minutes returning. Seems ok to me.

 

I did notice that farangs were under 5% of the travellers in the airport. And if this thread is an indication of farang opinion in Thailand, I can only hope that the %age will decrease even further in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Father Fintan Stack said:

Personal anecdotes are a waste of time here. 

Personal anecdotes have been a major part of this thread, or did you close your eyes to the others because they fitted your prejudices?

 

But if you don't like my anecdote, how about this: "US and Europe air traffic surpassed by China & Asia-Pacific"

 

http://www.asiaone.com/travel/us-and-europe-air-traffic-surpassed-china-asia-pacific-changis-gain

 

Also confrmed on the IATA website.

 

So, Thailand is planning accordingly... and still the farangs complain. Gives them something to do I suppose.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

41 minutes ago, hotchilli said:

Build another airport to bring in more passengers to an already capacity filled city with little or no expansion to infrastructure or mass transit system.. Just shoe horn in the money.!

I've heard they're planning on sticking an extra hundred floors on the Baiyoke Sky Tower. Well, if there's no room, sideways . . . all these extra bodies will have to sleep somewhere. Like I said earlier . . . just more electioneering hot air.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

While I would agree that Thailand's airport expansion is necessary and the high speed train will help-  where is any planning for job creation in Issan?   While incomes continue to rise along with an expanding middle class in Bangkok; Samut Prakan; Chonburi and Rayong-  there is not much work in Issan other than farming and even that is diminishing with the use of tractors and automation.

 

Thailand's economy is expanding but there is not an even distribution of the wealth.  Thailand appears to be emulating Europe and America which has seen uneven prosperity.

 

I would hope that Thailand comes up with a 20 year plan and an Issan Economic Corridor or the country is going to have huge disparity; lack of opportunity as their youth move into adulthood and expanded crime. There is not enough social planning; everything continues to be about money and foreign investment but that money and investment remains entrenched in the already wealthy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.




×
×
  • Create New...