New airport planned for Kalasin to boost tourism and exports

Dolf · March 4

6 hours ago, Barnet1900 said:

The food is terrific and

What dishes are terrific?

Barnet1900 · March 5

15 hours ago, Dolf said:

What dishes are terrific?

Food from Kalasin and Isan, as well as other regions of Thailand.

They used to have an Indian restaurant which was sublime, but sadly closed. Never going to be popular with the locals but it was superb. I think they're in KK now.

richard_smith237 · March 5

OK great... encourage tourism to Kalasin... encourage tourism throughout the Kingdom....

But, when Kalasin is just 1 hour from Khon Kaen, then why is there any need for a new airport ?

I can only think of one reason.... a group of good old boys have found a way to nose their way to the trough.

Barnet1900 · March 5

20 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

I've been here a long time now and built our houses here over 20 years ago now when I still had businesses in the sin city.

It can be repetitive and boring, but where isn't it?

it is laid back back, I had my British family here last year for three days before a SE tour, and they were certainly not bored.

We do have the rocket festival, and of course, the dinosaur museum and park but also we are not far from Roi Et, about 1-hour drive, and only 50 minutes to Roi Et airport from my house, Roi Et can be a good overnight trip.

We are a couple of hours from Khonkaen where I get all my important medical needs attended to and it's also a massive university city.

We are one hour from Mukdahan, the Mekong River and the Savannakhet crossing to Laos, it's also quite an interesting place in its own right, with a Vietnamese influence and temples.

In my district, we have quite a few pubs, live entertainment, a disco with live music and ' Lao ladies '.

We have a large lake in the town centre for exercise and in the centre a further exercise area with exercise machines and an aerobics centre.

We have a large hotel where you can just buy a drink and use the swimming pool if you wish.

A fancy Korean restaurant has just opened in the town. We have Lotus, Global, Home Pro, SCB, Krung Thai, and Kasikorn banks, all on our doorstep.

Less than a mile from my house is the local hospital, which isn't bad at all, I had a colonoscopy done there including a private room overnight and all procedures for less than 10,000 baht.

So, all in all, it suits me fine and dandy. If I want major excitement, I fly from Roi Et to Don Muang and from there to Vietnam, Cambodia or wherever.

That's a man who knows his Kalasin.

My kids were born in the red cross hospital there and they were nothing short of superb.

It's not to everyone's taste granted, but there is a charm to small towns like this that many of us would favour over the hustle and bustle of bigger towns.

Immigration is different gravy up there too. No grief, helpful staff and none of the anxiety I get upon entering the same in Bangkok or Chonburi.

I'd be surprised to see an airport open tbh but if it did I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it for a break from the norm.

Dolf · March 5

11 minutes ago, Barnet1900 said:

Food from Kalasin and Isan, as well as other regions of Thailand.

They used to have an Indian restaurant which was sublime, but sadly closed. Never going to be popular with the locals but it was superb. I think they're in KK now.

Kalasin has specialist dishes? Never heard of them. Larb and krapow moo is common in isaan but Thais love somtam.

youreavinalaff · March 5

1 hour ago, Dolf said:

Kalasin has specialist dishes? Never heard of them. Larb and krapow moo is common in isaan but Thais love somtam.

More drivel after having read half the comment quoted

I thought the villagers in your village couldn't afford to buy meat?

Barnet1900 · March 5

1 hour ago, Dolf said:

Kalasin has specialist dishes? Never heard of them. Larb and krapow moo is common in isaan but Thais love somtam.

Never said specialist.

I can give you at least 3 restaurants that will blow your mind on local food.

There's also White Linen that bakes fresh, hot chocolate chip cookies in soft dough. A coffee shop and restaurant set in a renovated Thai wooden house.

Amuse cafe serves up foreign food and craft beers.

The Supak hotel is the best looking hotel coffee shop I've seen in Thailand. You could spend hours relaxing there.

There's lots of really nice places to find there.

Barnet1900 · March 5

1 hour ago, richard_smith237 said:

OK great... encourage tourism to Kalasin... encourage tourism throughout the Kingdom....

But, when Kalasin is just 1 hour from Khon Kaen, then why is there any need for a new airport ?

I can only think of one reason.... a group of good old boys have found a way to nose their way to the trough.

I agree with this. There are airports in KK and Roiet which makes me doubt it will happen.

Nice to get a chance to talk about other places in Thailand though.

Dolf · March 5

10 minutes ago, youreavinalaff said:

More drivel after having read half the comment quoted

I thought the villagers in your village couldn't afford to buy meat?

I live in Japan. Where do you live?

Dolf · March 5

5 minutes ago, Barnet1900 said:

I agree with this. There are airports in KK and Roiet which makes me doubt it will happen.

Nice to get a chance to talk about other places in Thailand though.

Bueng Kan airport makes more sense.

youreavinalaff · March 5

6 minutes ago, Dolf said:

I live in Japan. Where do you live?

Funny.

Did Littlenok kick you out?

Georgealbert · March 5

8 hours ago, richard_smith237 said:

OK great... encourage tourism to Kalasin... encourage tourism throughout the Kingdom....

But, when Kalasin is just 1 hour from Khon Kaen, then why is there any need for a new airport ?

I can only think of one reason.... a group of good old boys have found a way to nose their way to the trough.

One of the problems, is there are 2 agencies involved in the running of Thai airports (groups of old boys), AOT and DOT, each are independent, with their own policies, management, budgets and priorities. Both agencies are part of the Ministry of Transport.

Both agencies have to justify their budgets every year, and no one likes/wants cuts. The problems are that very little is researched into the passenger/cargo demand, so difficult to attract airlines and flights.

The 2019 disagreement between AOT and DOA, about AOT taking over some of the DOA airports, reflects how differently the two agencies work.

Most smaller airports are not profitable. This 2022 story sums up the issue.

https://smartaviation-apac.com/thailand-presses-on-with-provincial-airport-developments-despite-having-low-or-no-commercial-air-traffic/

Edited March 5 by Georgealbert

Mike Lister · March 5

4 minutes ago, Georgealbert said:

One of the problems, is there are 2 agencies involved in the running of Thai airports (groups of old boys), AOT and DOT, each are independent, with their own policies, management, budgets and priorities.

Both agencies have to justify their budgets every year, and no one likes/wants cuts. The problems are that very little is researched into the passenger/cargo demand, so difficult to attract airlines and flights.

Most smaller airports are not profitable. This 2022 story sums up the issue.

https://smartaviation-apac.com/thailand-presses-on-with-provincial-airport-developments-despite-having-low-or-no-commercial-air-traffic/

You're an air transport person, here, this may be of interest.

https://investor.airportthai.co.th/transport.html

Georgealbert · March 5

23 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

You're an air transport person, here, this may be of interest.

https://investor.airportthai.co.th/transport.html

Thanks, that just shows the AOT data, which covers flights in and out of the larger Thai airports, and allows for continued planning for increased flights, driven by increasing airport transport needs.

This 2019 data showing traffic at that time through the DOA top 10 airport, per year, and seems to be why AOT wanted to take over Krabi and Udon Thani at that time. AOT also in 2019 wanted Buriram and Tak.

1. Krabi Airport: 26,457 flights, 3,908,953 passengers

2. Udon Thani Airport: 18,495 flights, 2,573,169 passengers

3. Surat Thani Airport: 12,809 flights, 1,933,549 passengers

4. Khon Kaen Airport: 14,356 flights, 1,922,380 passengers

5. Ubon Ratchathani Airport: 12,033 flights, 1,812,371 passengers

6. Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport: 15,969 flights, 1,482,802 passengers

7. Phitsanulok Airport: 5,743 flights, 709,933 passengers

8. Trang Airport: 4,514 flights, 698,914 passengers

9. Nan Nakhon Airport: 3,554 flights, 421,790 passengers

10. Nakhon Phanom Airport: 2,835 flights, 401,241 passengers

I had the pleasure of doing a small safety consulting/investigation contract for an international airline, which allowed some insight into how the Thai agencies approached things.

Mike Lister · March 5

2 minutes ago, Georgealbert said:

Thanks, that just shows the AOT data, which covers flights in and out of the larger Thai airports, and allows for continued planning for increased flights, driven by increasing airport transport needs.

This 2019 data showing traffic at that time through the DOA top 10 airport, per year, and seems to be why AOT wanted to take over Krabi and Udon Thani at that time. AOT also in 2019 wanted Buriram and Tak.

1. Krabi Airport: 26,457 flights, 3,908,953 passengers

2. Udon Thani Airport: 18,495 flights, 2,573,169 passengers

3. Surat Thani Airport: 12,809 flights, 1,933,549 passengers

4. Khon Kaen Airport: 14,356 flights, 1,922,380 passengers

5. Ubon Ratchathani Airport: 12,033 flights, 1,812,371 passengers

6. Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport: 15,969 flights, 1,482,802 passengers

7. Phitsanulok Airport: 5,743 flights, 709,933 passengers

8. Trang Airport: 4,514 flights, 698,914 passengers

9. Nan Nakhon Airport: 3,554 flights, 421,790 passengers

10. Nakhon Phanom Airport: 2,835 flights, 401,241 passengers

I had the pleasure of doing a small safety consulting/investigation contract for an international airline, which allowed some insight into how the Thai agencies approached things.

I seem to recall seeing that several provinces have requests in to build airports, Phuket wants a second one, Chiang Mai is getting a second one plus DOA has plans to build seven! It's become fashionable it seems, I would have thought the payback period wouldn't justify the build in some of those locations but who knows.

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thailand-to-build-7-new-airports

Georgealbert · March 5

10 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

I seem to recall seeing that several provinces have requests in to build airports, Phuket wants a second one, Chiang Mai is getting a second one plus DOA has plans to build seven! It's become fashionable it seems, I would have thought the payback period wouldn't justify the build in some of those locations but who knows.

https://thethaiger.com/news/national/thailand-to-build-7-new-airports

AOT are looking at feasibility of Phang Nga Airport, to be the second Phuket airport, and would service both tourists for Phuket and Krabi. The PM recently described the airport, to be in the second stage of development. If built, earliset expected completion date is 2031.

The AOT proposal for a second Chiang Mai airport, is in Lamphun province and if ever given the green light, would take at least seven years to complete. Currently being pushed by the PM.

The DOA plans seems to risk more “ghost” airports, with little or no commercial flights. Many existing DOA airport can only cater for turbo prop planes. Bangkok Airways being the only large domestic airline with ATR aircraft fleet.