50 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

It's always been a mystery to me flights to Chiang Mai from Bangkok are more expensive than those to Chiang Rai, when Chiang Rai is 200 km further.

Don't know about these in particular, but a small difference in distance is not decisive if other cost like landing/parking fees are highly different.

 

On further thought, this must indicate that international flights are reluctant to pay the plane parking fees at these two airports. The fees for domestic LCCs were reduced about 10 years ago. As with all things in Thailand, now it the turn of the international airlines to lever their costs down. This is AOT's opening shot. It might succeed. If you think about it, AOT has a long record of miscalculations. (Most of those occurred because of the usual political shenanigans.) Just remember, they actually considered closing Don Muang down completely.

They better can close Puke It airport. 

So, as future non-international airports, HDY and Chiang-Rai Internationals would probably revert to the Department of Airports; which has its own downsizing plans, despite the forthcoming addition of Betong. (Funnily enough , there was a recent report that some planes to Betong might fly onto Langkawi.) Only about 17 out of 28 of DOA's airports make money. (This is becoming every bit as convoluted as most things always here.)

 

Wikipedia Quote: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Airports_(Thailand)

Airports of Thailand PCL (AOT) had planned to assume management of Udon Thani International Airport, Sakon Nakhon Airport, Tak Airport, and Chumphon Airport in 2019. The DOA would relinquish control, reducing the airports under its control to 24.^[5] In a change of plans in August 2019, AOT proposed instead to take control of the Udon Thani, Tak, Buriram, and Krabi airports, leaving Sakon Nakhon and Chumphon airports to the DOA. DOA insists that the earlier plan be followed as it would retain its money-making airports.^[4]

38 minutes ago, Mexlark said:

I'm not even sure if a Hat-Yai to Phuket service currently exists.

Bangkok Airways have managed to succeed where others have failed. But if Hat Yai lost its international status, I would just take a taxi to Penang, plenty of good connections from there. 

 

It's either shoddy reporting, quite possible given the source, or just AOT sabre rattling for more funds.

AOT closing two of its six airports that are seeing reduced use, namely Hat Yai International Airport in Songkhla province and Mae Fah Luang - Chiang Rai International Airport.

 

Well , well, well it appears TAT and government tourism groups are caught out lying after talking up numbers of tourists per year to the highest in history, well over half the Thai population. That would mean every second person in Thailand is an alien. And now AOT has to close 2 International airports due to lack of customers. Karma bites.

Last year my wife was telling me that then government was going to make improvements to the airport here in Chiang Rai.  

Are we witnessing the beginnings of another Asian meltdown, one wonders? The property sector looks like it is cruising for a bruising. And rising household debt probably indicates the possibility of NPLs. We had a neighbor who brought a whole stack of them home in 97. They made an excellent front door stop.

Maybe they are punishing the Muslims and red shirts. 

PTTEP have just spent B500m on a new chopper base in Songkhla.

 

No danger is Had Yai airport closing.

Bit of a drive from Hat Yai  to Phuket 

6 minutes ago, Yadon Toploy said:

PTTEP have just spent B500m on a new chopper base in Songkhla.

 

No danger is Had Yai airport closing.

That can't happen as it's also the home of Wing 56 and 561 Fighter Squadron! 

I get it... it is a chance to increase tourist arrivals numbers— by having people fly Bangkok-Penang and enter Thailand again to head to Koh Lipe and environs.  You have to wonder what these ministries are thinking... these two airports reflect the northernmost and southernmost points in the country— the ones that aren’t well served by any other means.

 

They could be excellent designated venues for young punk, teenager bike racer types. 

All regulated by the government 

Charge an admission fee.

Last week the TAT said there were 12 international airports

2 hours ago, Yadon Toploy said:

PTTEP have just spent B500m on a new chopper base in Songkhla.

 

No danger is Had Yai airport closing.

Is that actually at Hat-Yai Airport? Oil & gas execs have been known to board choppers at at HYIA, after alighting from incoming flights. Songkhla Naval Aerodrome (AKA the old airport) has long been used by helicopter companies serving the offshore stuff. However, some of its function was taken over by a place in (I believe) Nakhon ST about a decade ago. But I heard the number of poor weather days there caused some problems, and some stuff returned to Songkhla. But it isn't impossible that PTTEP have decided to build their own heliport elsewhere. i guess the main thing is they can liaise with the weather station in Songkhla. That's next to the aerodrome, but I doubt it is strictly necessary to be next door.

 

it would be very interesting to hear from others where this new PTTEP base is. I suppose they might just have decided to cohabit with RTAF Hat-Yai or HYIA; which have their own weather station.

53 minutes ago, kirbi53 said:

They could be excellent designated venues for young punk, teenager bike racer types. 

All regulated by the government 

Charge an admission fee.

Don't know if they still do it, but a peripheral part of the airport was used for auto & bike drag-racing a few years ago. It's quite a long runway, so I suppose they might have some under-employed taxiways somewhere. Perhaps around the not terribly busy airbase, using spectator areas normally reserved for the annual Children's Day air display. The idea was to try and get some racing off the streets. It obviously did NOT succeed in solving the entire problem, though! I doubt the entry fees and spectator admission fees were wildly popular either. People like the free spectacle, downtown, at unearthly hours of the night. B******s!

10 hours ago, Stocky said:

That's the figure from Flight Radar

 

https://www.flightradar24.com/data/airports/hdy

 

Certainly there are 23 direct flights daily; Air Asia 7, Thai Lion 6, Nok Air and Thai Smile 5 each.

She's the hub for the oil and gas industry in Songkhla hence the traffic, so a busy place and can't see it closing, certainly not for domestic flights. Not progressive thinking imo at all.

 

<deleted>, closing Chiang Rai airport. That's just going to make traffic insane on the mountainous road to Chiang Mai, and congest Chiang Mai airport even more.

Earlier this year I'm almost positive they had posters with drawings of expansion plans for all to see in the CEI airport.

Let's just hope this is another farcical idea that got traction in the media with an announcement forthcoming that it was all a big misunderstanding.

I would gladly use HKT -> HDY route for a ME non-o border-run, or a visa run combined with visiting relatives in Hat Yai, if it wasn't for a ridiculous price of 3000+THB for Bangkok Airways.

If only AirAsia would have a regualr flight there, if only for 2 times a week is still great.

 

Going to DMK or directly to PENang is 3-4 times cheaper.

Closing Chiang Rai airport = fake news I think !

 

As has been stated, potentially it may no longer accept incoming international flights and they close down the immigration desks. But even that seems unlikely, it just puts more pressure on the already overloaded two Bangkok airports.

It was all a terrible misunderstanding it seems!

 

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30377828

 

"The press reports regarding the planned closure of Hat Yai International Airport in Songkhla province and Mae Fah Luang - Chiang Rai International Airport were just misinterpretation, said AOT President Nitinai Sirismatthakarn adding that the real message was that the high-speed train project might lead to fewer clients for both airports. The AOT will draw up a flexible plan to deal with the development, he said."

 

I'll be long dead before there's a high speed rail link from Bangkok to Hat Yai. I doubt I'll live to see double track!

 

SNAFUTiT

Thailand

the hub of the closing international airports

 

 

 

20 hours ago, Stocky said:

Merging with Phuket makes zero sense, who wants to take a 6hr drive to Phuket to catch a flight?

Thai Airways seem to think that magical mystery tours are the way ahead going by their comments last week.

4'020'000 tourists on 2'027 flights. Taking that the flights are counted by aircraft and tourists are counted as disembarking and embarking, it would result in an average plane load of 991 passengers per each and every incoming - and separately - outgoing flight.

Had Yai to Phuket, nine hours drive between the two (I did it); so much to the wisdom of the smart planners at AOT - get rid of the whole bunch and start operating airports and maintain statistics as usually done in the 21st century ????    Go figure! 

13 hours ago, wcoast said:

<deleted>, closing Chiang Rai airport. That's just going to make traffic insane on the mountainous road to Chiang Mai

In the north there is something that can be called quasi monopoly

on passenger services, at least that was my impression.
Everything is possible TIT.

I often direct fight from Hong Kong to Chiang Rai.

 

But since the end of this month, direct flights from Hong Kong to Chiang Rai are no longer in operation.

 

I have inquired that there are many international flights to Chiang Rai this year, and many of them have been cancelled due to operational problems (Singapore/Macau), and now I only see China to Chiang Rai International routes. OMG