Senate panel calls for urgent moves to expand Suvarnabhumi Airport

By The Nation

 

 

A Senate committee has urged government agencies to speed up the expansion of Suvarnabhumi Airport to deal with the increasing number of visitors to the country.

 

General Yodyuth Boonyathikarn, chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation, said that they had a meeting with Airports of Thailand (AOT) officials on December 19 and the committee acknowledged the urgent need for the expansion of Suvarnabhumi Airport.

 

After hearing information, the progress being made and obstacles facing the project, the committee told the AOT to hasten the decision since the capacities of both Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports are not capable of meeting the needs of the travellers.

 

AOT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said that they had already gathered all documents and opinions sent them to the Transport Ministry and the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council for approval.

 

If any further studies were required, AOT believes the draft could be proposed to the Cabinet within January 2020 while construction could be started after the Cabinet approves the design draft, which will take a year.

 

The plan has been delayed by a year.

 

Rawee Machamadon, member of Parliament of the New Palang Dhamma Party, said there were more than 10 organisations standing in the way of expanding the terminal project. He asked them to look at the original master plan. He also claimed that Nitinai was putting others under stress when mentioning or giving opinions on the project. Rawee suggested sending the matter to Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob and getting the related offices to find solutions to problems, as the project will cost a huge sum of money.

 

Source: https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30379721

 

-- © Copyright The Nation Thailand 2019-12-23

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14 minutes ago, webfact said:

A Senate committee has urged government agencies to speed up the expansion of Suvarnabhumi Airport to deal with the increasing number of visitors to the country.

'to deal with the increasing number of visitors'  That gives the impression they've been listening to TAT.

 

14 minutes ago, webfact said:

After hearing information, the progress being made and obstacles facing the project, the committee told the AOT to hasten the decision since the capacities of both Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports are not capable of meeting the needs of the travellers.

'both Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports are not capable of meeting the needs of the travellers.'

Yet now here they say both airports are not fit for purpose right now.

 

Edited December 22, 20196 yr by bluesofa
grammar

The 2nd terminal issue has been dragging on for years now.....and likely will continue to drag on due to useless people being unable to make a decision!

Swampy took 10 years to complete.....admittedly, the runways went for 6 years.....T2 will more than likely be another monumental balls-up of mismanagement, corruption and graft!

Trying to copy Heathrow

I think it's for a giant circular moving walkway to count the tourists multiple times as they go round like some bizarre sushi restaurant

4 minutes ago, RichardColeman said:

I think it's for a giant circular moving walkway to count the tourists multiple times as they go round like some bizarre sushi restaurant

I always assumed the people they use to count already must be cross-eyed in order to get the figures they have.

2 hours ago, ChrisY1 said:

The 2nd terminal issue has been dragging on for years now.....and likely will continue to drag on due to useless people being unable to make a decision!

Swampy took 10 years to complete.....admittedly, the runways went for 6 years.....T2 will more than likely be another monumental balls-up of mismanagement, corruption and graft!

<deleted> %iss ups and breweries come to mind. As I am now 68 I will be long gone before work is finished - possibly even before it is started.

Edited December 23, 20196 yr by laocowboy2
spelling error

7 hours ago, webfact said:

The plan has been delayed by a year.

The still missing 3rd runway had been planned almost 7 years ago.

I think the airport is now operating at about 50% in excess of flight capacity without the 3rd runway and soon to shut down the 2nd runway for repair/upgrade.

Ugh? I thought we were all supposed to feel guilty about flying because it was destroying the planet? 

9 hours ago, webfact said:

A Senate committee has urged government agencies to speed up the expansion of Suvarnabhumi Airport to deal with the increasing number of visitors to the country.

Since the Senate is mainly made up of soldiers, I think the big increase in passengers will be for the armed forces, I would not be surprised if it partially became a military airport!

10 hours ago, bluesofa said:

'to deal with the increasing number of visitors'  That gives the impression they've been listening to TAT.

Or merely to travelers complaining about long queues. Or to airlines that can't schedule flights when they'd like for lack of space in the preferred time slots. Without reason, of course. We all know there are no tourists anymore and everything's dead. Deserted airport, no queues. TAT keeps planting those fake pics around, though.

 

The announcement of Suvarnabhumi was greeted here by the usual chorus of sneers. Don Muang would be ALL that would ever be needed. Poor location. Just another boondoggle. Then as construction proceeded we had all the usual dire predictions, would never be finished, planes would sink on the tarmac, blah, blah. Not surprisingly, our consensus will be that no expansion is needed of an airport known superfluous anyway. ????

 

Edited December 23, 20196 yr by BigStar

How about 'Urgently opening the number of Immigration Desks available'  Even 'Urgently telling Immigration Staff to give visitors a smile like other Asian countries do instead of the usual scowl one gets on arrival in The Land of Scams'   !

5 hours ago, Krataiboy said:

Ugh? I thought we were all supposed to feel guilty about flying because it was destroying the planet? 

Rest easy. The carbon tax on flights will scare away the CO2 the planes produce.

Feel better now? ????????

1 hour ago, trainman34014 said:

How about 'Urgently opening the number of Immigration Desks available'  Even 'Urgently telling Immigration Staff to give visitors a smile like other Asian countries do instead of the usual scowl one gets on arrival in The Land of Scams'   !

In my experience on entering S Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, China and Malaysia, I got a lip curl that might have been a smile in Malaysia, and an absolute beaming smile in Indonesia. The rest? No....

 

They even nicked a can of beer out of my carry on in Philippines......a small 330ml at that. And my lighter. ????

12 minutes ago, Traubert said:

In my experience on entering S Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, China and Malaysia, I got a lip curl that might have been a smile in Malaysia, and an absolute beaming smile in Indonesia. The rest? No....

 

They even nicked a can of beer out of my carry on in Philippines......a small 330ml at that. And my lighter. ????

Saved you trouble. Cans of beer are difficult to light.

6 minutes ago, overherebc said:

19 minutes ago, Traubert said:

They even nicked a can of beer out of my carry on in Philippines......a small 330ml at that. And my lighter. ????

Saved you trouble. Cans of beer are difficult to light

Large cans of beer are heavier, whereas small cans of beer are lighter, so surely not too difficult.

One issue at BKK is that aircraft size, by an airline, is not optimized to reduce air traffic landings at BKK. For example EVA, has 2 flights into BKK within 2 hours, both originating at TPE. 

 

Another issue is that 3 flights from the same departure city (HKT), by 3 different airlines, all  arrive within 15 minutes. Definitely not optimized for runway use at BKK.

I have been told by a very senior official that BKK cannot be expanded safely. A second runway will only put in jeopardy the main runway usage, if the country is at all concerned with safety.  Several studies have been conducted and of course the politics are ignoring the situation in attempting to spend significant funding.  Maybe some of them are expecting to cash in on the possible major project.