Revamped Don Muang Terminal Ready For Service

[webfact]

Revamped Don Muang Terminal Ready for Service

The Don Muang Airport is moving its domestic flight operation to the revamped Terminal 1 starting August 1 as it is believed to be more efficient and can facilitate some 16 million passengers per year.

The Airports of Thailand's Don Muang Airport Director Wing Commander Pratheep Wichittho said that the 13-million baht revamp of Don Muang's Terminal 1 has been completed and domestic flight operation will be moved to the renovated terminal starting August 1.

The terminal's efficiency has been increased by 40 percent.

It can now accommodate 16 million people per year as opposed to the 11 million passengers in the old terminal.

The third floor of Don Muang's Terminal 1 will be used for departures while the first floor for arrivals. Both international and domestic flight passengers are able to access the arrival and departure lobby.

The Don Muang director is confident the revamp will increase passenger traffic to four million from the current 2.5 million.

For the domestic terminal, the AOT plans to use the free zones to hold various events and exhibitions to generate additional revenue since it is currently operating at a deficit of 50 million baht per year.

Nok Air will be the first flight taking off from the upgraded terminal at 6 A.M. en route to Nakhon Ratchasima Province while Orient Thai Airlines will depart at 7:40 A.M. to Trang Province.

-- The Nation 2011-07-30

[alant]

well that is a sizeable capacity, I guess it is all a part of an integrated transport policy, does anyone know if the policy is available in English to read?

[Dario]

I wonder what will happen to the Domestic Terminal now. Nothing, I guess. Don Muang should have become Bangkok's domestic airport, same as Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The reason why it hasn't become so is because the powers-to-be "forgot" to build a connecting skytrain between Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi. Amazing Thailand.

[laurentbkk]

ah damned ...... I thought it would be quiet for another few years ..specially as living not far from DM ... I wonder how it will be organized when people who come from abroad at Suvharnabumi but must go to don muang for domestic flight .

[MeMock]

laurentbkk, that scenario has been happening for years already.

[paulklee]

The Bangkok Airports Integration Planning Committee has reached the letter "T". Transport options between the two airports will include:

Train

Taxi

Tuk-Tuk

Tunnel

TARDIS

I suspect that the Taxi and Tuk-Tuk options will be available on a long-term basis. Whereas, the Train, Tunnel and TARDIS options will be fully funded, it is unlikely that they would ever actually be built.

For those not in the know, TARDIS stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. It is a time and space travel ship used by The Doctor in the Doctor Who adventures. Looking like a small British police box from the outside, it is very big and fully fitted as a spaceship on the inside. Thailand could become the SE Asian hub for TARDIS development which would probably be cheaper than a new fleet of helicopters.

[moe666]

ah damned ...... I thought it would be quiet for another few years ..specially as living not far from DM ... I wonder how it will be organized when people who come from abroad at Suvharnabumi but must go to don muang for domestic flight .

Just make sure your domestic flight is from swampy

[tracer5050]

I fly in and out of both , any inprovement is good

[Keng11]

Don't worry about Don Muang Airport if you can fly Air Asia after arriving in

Suvarnabhumi just stay there and take the Air Asia option to get to your destination.<br>

Edited July 30, 2011 by Keng11

[whybother]

ah damned ...... I thought it would be quiet for another few years ..specially as living not far from DM ... I wonder how it will be organized when people who come from abroad at Suvharnabumi but must go to don muang for domestic flight .

It's OK. They've started flights between Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi.

[MeMock]

Problem for me is that the connecting flight to Ubon is 8 hours after arriving with Air Asia or just three hours with Nok so it is off to Don Muang for me every time.

[ingvar]

Dont worry, they will build another skytrain link between Swampy and DM.

The Swampy station will be 5 Km away from Swampy so you have to take a taxi there anyway.

Meanwhile the taxi mafia will move over to DM and take over transportation services there.

You will have to take a taxi from DM to the nearest Skytrain station anyway because the DM station will be so high up in the air and far from DM so you need to climb down 10m of stairs. Apparently elevators does not work in Thailand.

[whybother]

Dont worry, they will build another skytrain link between Swampy and DM.

The Swampy station will be 5 Km away from Swampy so you have to take a taxi there anyway.

Meanwhile the taxi mafia will move over to DM and take over transportation services there.

You will have to take a taxi from DM to the nearest Skytrain station anyway because the DM station will be so high up in the air and far from DM so you need to climb down 10m of stairs. Apparently elevators does not work in Thailand.

There are already plans to extend the Airport link around to Don Muang. I'm not sure if it is one of the ones where construction has already started.

[12DrinkMore]

Great plan, I suppose, increasing the capacity from 11 million passengers to 16 million passengers when the current usage is just 2.5 million.

And why are they operating at a 50,000,000 Baht loss/year? Must be an inept management.

They could fix that by charging each passenger an additional 20 Baht.

[hansnl]

I wonder what will happen to the Domestic Terminal now. Nothing, I guess. Don Muang should have become Bangkok's domestic airport, same as Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The reason why it hasn't become so is because the powers-to-be "forgot" to build a connecting skytrain between Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi. Amazing Thailand.

Oh, they did not forget at all.

Well, not really a skytrain.

The Government of the day, i'd say about three years ago, ordered the SRT to design a connection between Don Mueang and Suvarnibhumi.

The idea was to upgrade the existing Station of Don Mueang, upgrade the line including the junction with the eastern line, and the eastern line up to the point where a spur to Suvarnibhumi could be built.

The whole idea could be brought to reality within1,5-2 years.

The other idea was to build a another line from Makkasan to Don Mueang.

Not so handy, becasue it would have meant a trip from Don Muang to Makkasan, change trains or turn the train around, and the off to Suvarnibhumi.

However.............silence followed.

[barryofthailand]

Since when does Nok Air fly to Nokhon Ratchasima?

Barry

[tartempion]

Great plan, I suppose, increasing the capacity from 11 million passengers to 16 million passengers when the current usage is just 2.5 million.

Yep, next need to build that railway link between Swampy and DM so they can cancel all domestic flights to/from Sawmpy and have 15 million pax for DM and increase international capacity for Swampy at the same time.

Some brilliant minds at work

[barryFunk]

I wonder what will happen to the Domestic Terminal now. Nothing, I guess. Don Muang should have become Bangkok's domestic airport, same as Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The reason why it hasn't become so is because the powers-to-be "forgot" to build a connecting skytrain between Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi. Amazing Thailand.

There is no need for Don Muang to continue operating. Tokyo sees about twice the air traffic annually as Thailand including more 60 million domestic passengers. Comparing Tokyo's airport needs to Bangkok's is ridiculous. Furthermore, Narita Airport is constrained by local opposition to expansion and has poor links with the centre of Tokyo (more than an hour by train). This makes Haneda a welcome Domestic airport for the largest metropolis in the world.

While Bangkok is a large city and a hub for South-East Asia, Suvarnabhumi has plenty of space to expand and room for four runways. With a separate domestic terminal, Suvarnabhumi could handle all the air traffic for Bangkok on its two runways. Further expansion through construction of new runways would be fairly straightforward since the space for these runways has already been cleared. Building a new runway and domestic terminal would be a much better investment than building an express transport link to Don Muang (unless this was part of a bigger mass transit system).

Having Don Muang stay open is a waste and causes confusion for foreign travellers. The good transport links, existing infrastructure and room for expansion all suggest that a one airport policy makes financial and logistic sense.

[Ricardo]

Don Meung ... Hub of Empty Un-needed Airports ?

[meatboy]

Since when does Nok Air fly to Nokhon Ratchasima?

Barry

WHEN THE DUCKS FLY BACKWARDS.

[tragickingdom]

That would be a hack of a renovation. 13 million baht for a terminal. Let's hope everything is fitted for the price. A decent house in Bangkok cost more.

[JurgenG]

There is no need for Don Muang to continue operating. Tokyo sees about twice the air traffic annually as Thailand including more 60 million domestic passengers. Comparing Tokyo's airport needs to Bangkok's is ridiculous. Furthermore, Narita Airport is constrained by local opposition to expansion and has poor links with the centre of Tokyo (more than an hour by train). This makes Haneda a welcome Domestic airport for the largest metropolis in the world.

While Bangkok is a large city and a hub for South-East Asia, Suvarnabhumi has plenty of space to expand and room for four runways. With a separate domestic terminal, Suvarnabhumi could handle all the air traffic for Bangkok on its two runways. Further expansion through construction of new runways would be fairly straightforward since the space for these runways has already been cleared. Building a new runway and domestic terminal would be a much better investment than building an express transport link to Don Muang (unless this was part of a bigger mass transit system).

Having Don Muang stay open is a waste and causes confusion for foreign travellers. The good transport links, existing infrastructure and room for expansion all suggest that a one airport policy makes financial and logistic sense.

There are very powerful people behind Don Muang, people who, after the coup, wanted to force international airlines to move back to Don Muang.

You can imagine the answer

Edited July 30, 2011 by JurgenG

[thaikahuna]

I wonder what will happen to the Domestic Terminal now. Nothing, I guess. Don Muang should have become Bangkok's domestic airport, same as Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The reason why it hasn't become so is because the powers-to-be "forgot" to build a connecting skytrain between Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi. Amazing Thailand.

The reason being is that the RTAF owns the airport...

[notime]

Just another example of crap reporting by quoting numbers that don't stack up. "13-million baht revamp" must be incorrect. Maybe more like 130 million. Although it could be good idea to "underestimate a bit" and conceal how much money somebody's made on cushy government contracts. An increase from 11 to 16 is just over 45% and not 40%. How to believe any figures at all in The Nation? And if not, what was that article about than? Aha .. government spending money renovating buildings and "increasing efficiency" for the service of the country. Very good! :-)

[RickBradford]

While they're splashing all those billions of baht around, they might have thought of paying for the elevated Don Meuang tollway, would have avoided a lot of unpleasantness..

[peterdk]

Just another example of crap reporting by quoting numbers that don't stack up. "13-million baht revamp" must be incorrect. Maybe more like 130 million. Although it could be good idea to "underestimate a bit" and conceal how much money somebody's made on cushy government contracts. An increase from 11 to 16 is just over 45% and not 40%. How to believe any figures at all in The Nation? And if not, what was that article about than? Aha .. government spending money renovating buildings and "increasing efficiency" for the service of the country. Very good! :-)

They renovated what is known as Terminal 1 - where the capacity in Terminal 1 have been increased to handle up to 16 million passengers - thats the 40% increase from an old figure not mentioned. ( must have been 11428570 for the 40% figure to be accurate )

However Terminal 1 have not been in use since Swampy - hence the renovation and moving away from the Terminal known as the Domestic Terminal - where the Domestic Terminal have a capacity of 11 million.

So two different terminals - Domestic now still in use until 01 Aug and Terminal 1 - will be in use after 01 Aug.

And about the figure - 13 million for a rewamp as they say.

Well it was a fully functional airport terminal before - so they may have cleaned it up and painted it, however that doesnt explain why it suddenly can handle 40% more passengers.

So yes, something seems odd in that price.

Edited July 30, 2011 by peterdk

[jimbeam1]

That would be a hack of a renovation. 13 million baht for a terminal. Let's hope everything is fitted for the price. A decent house in Bangkok cost more.

That's what I thought. About enough for a lick of paint.

jb1

[andypae]

I heard from a taxi driver that the old Domestic terminal was going to be taken over by Air Asia which they would solely use. Apparently Air Asia are increasing the number of flights and looking at new destinations in Thailand and internationally. Not sure if its true as ive heard nothing on the news.

I wonder what will happen to the Domestic Terminal now. Nothing, I guess. Don Muang should have become Bangkok's domestic airport, same as Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The reason why it hasn't become so is because the powers-to-be "forgot" to build a connecting skytrain between Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi. Amazing Thailand.

[rockdoc]

That would be a hack of a renovation. 13 million baht for a terminal. Let's hope everything is fitted for the price. A decent house in Bangkok cost more.

I disagree. Depends what needed to be done of course e.g. whether any of the existing boarding ramps need modifying to accommodate different aircraft types etc. As post #24 observed, 13 million baht is a piddling amount really.

And it certainly wouldn't leave much in the way of "tea money" for the officials in charge of the switch

[peterdk]

I was thinking about this number 16 million per year is the capacity they say.

What in the world is capacity in an airport ?

Is that the amount of people who could check in, be fed, leave, collect luggage or how does these capacity figures work.

16 million per year or

1333333 per month or

44444 per day ( assuming 30 days ) or

1851 per hour ( assuming 24 hours ) or

31 per minute.

31 per minute ??

That figure seems low.

31 people per minute is the total capacity of the airport Terminal 1 ?

Are we talking checking in ? Ok seems a fair assessment - a busy airport with many airlines and many flights have easily 50-60 lines to check in - so yes fair.

Eating ? - The entire Terminal is only equipped to feed 31 people per minute - I dont think so. Cafe's - Burger king - Mc Donalds - Black Canyon - Starbucks - cafeteria - you name it,

they would all be in place if the number of actual people traveling through the airport would be 16 million per year and not the 2.5 million per year currently.

Luggage - only enough carts and people in the entire airport terminal to but 31 people's luggage on the conveyor belts per minute - well could be a fair assessment.

Anyway - my two cents..