Suvarnabhumi Airport 'Will Be Safe'

[webfact]

Suvarnabhumi 'will be safe'

The Nation

Airport officials 'highly confident' barriers will keep flood water at bay

Suvarnabhumi Airport is "highly confident" its flood-prevention scheme - with its 3.5-metre-high, 37-metre-wide earth dyke and sheet piles - will be effective.

Airports of Thailand senior executive vice-president Somchai Sawasdeepon said the airport also has a team of officers to monitor water levels at six flood gates, including Lat Krabang, Saen Saeb and Samrong. Airlines at the airport are being notified of water levels every three hours to ensure smooth aviation operations in Thailand despite the flooding in Don Mueang Airport.

On Monday, the airport accommodated 945 flights, a new daily record since its opening.

Somchai yesterday briefed Japanese experts - brought in by the Japan International Credit Agency (JICA) which funded the airport's construction - on the flood defences, including its cooperation with agencies like the Highways Department and the Royal Irrigation Department.

The team of Japanese experts also received a briefing from the Flood Relief Operations Centre as well as Bangkok Metro, the subway operator.

The airport has prepared giant pumps with a capacity to pump 1 million cubic metres of water per day, as well as other protective materials.

The airport is also reducing water levels in floodways around the airport to only 25 per cent of their capacity.

"Experts from Singapore and Germany have inspected our protection system and also the materials we have used to lower water levels," said Somchai.

Somchai added that canals around Suvarnabhumi, including those in Lat Krabang, Bang Chalong and Nong Ngu Hao, were dredged before the construction of the airport.

A sewer under the Bang Na-Trat highway has been dredged to allow water from Prawet Burirom canal to be drained into the Samrong canal, Somchai said.

Somchai said a new canal for draining flood water around the airport has been dug with the capacity to drain 100 cubic metres of water per second.

"The new drainage canal increases the capacity of water draining and I believe we will have no problems of flooding at the airport. The water will be drained eastwards via Prince Chaiyanuchit canal," Somchai pointed out.

He said the airport would not be affected by high sea tides because it is ten kilometres from the coast.

However, he was worried about overflowing flood water from Saen Saeb canal into Prawet Burirom canal because the airport is only 1 km away from Prawet Burirom canal.

He said if flood water overflowed from Prawet Burirom canal, it would move to the northern side of the airport. Nevertheless, the flood water would be blocked by the flood barriers at the airport, which include a 3.5-metre-high embankment.

"If the overflowing floodwater is not higher than 1 metre, I believe our 3.5-metre-high embankment can prevent it from entering the airport," Somchai said.

Meanwhile, Oriental Thai Airlines Chief Executive Officer Manasnan Tantiprasongchai said 9-10 parked aircraft are under water at Don Mueang Airport. Most are MD aircraft and all are waiting to be sold.

She said not all the aircraft have been damaged by flood water, which has entered only some of the planes.

"We parked the aircraft there more than a month ago and we'll not move them out as there's no place to park them. It's also costly going in for relocation," she said.

She added that Oriental Thai operates eight aircraft at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Six aircraft are being utilised for domestic services and the other two for international services.

-- The Nation 2011-11-02

[Thunder26]

Same was said about Don Muang airport. And how is it now?

[beano2274]

Wonder if FROC will move there, they seem to choose the best locations for their Help centres.

If it does flood then it will be a huge blow, no tourists for a while, carriers having to find new places to fly into, then after the floods have cleared who is to say that all will return. And how about the Runway surfaces, they have had problems before, now if water were to get in the cracks, wow, that would be an issue.

[johnno2]

Wonder if FROC will move there, they seem to choose the best locations for their Help centres.

If it does flood then it will be a huge blow, no tourists for a while, carriers having to find new places to fly into, then after the floods have cleared who is to say that all will return. And how about the Runway surfaces, they have had problems before, now if water were to get in the cracks, wow, that would be an issue.

i'm glad someone in charge knows what they are doing.

or should that read....i hope someone in charge knows what they are doing.

or should that read....does anyone in charge know what they are doing.

or should that read............i'm tired and sleep now

[eslbill]

Referring to the text; Too many if's, too many might's, give it a fortnight then we shall see.

[geriatrickid]

Meanwhile, Oriental Thai Airlines Chief Executive Officer Manasnan Tantiprasongchai said 9-10 parked aircraft are under water at Don Mueang Airport. Most are MD aircraft and all are waiting to be sold.

How convenient. The MD aircraft are fuel guzzlers that no one really wants. if there was a market, American Airlines, SAS, Alitalia, and Delta would have gotten rid of these inefficient, noisy obsolete junkers years ago. Even the flying junkyards in Africa don't want them.

[robblok]

Meanwhile, Oriental Thai Airlines Chief Executive Officer Manasnan Tantiprasongchai said 9-10 parked aircraft are under water at Don Mueang Airport. Most are MD aircraft and all are waiting to be sold.

How convenient. The MD aircraft are fuel guzzlers that no one really wants. if there was a market, American Airlines, SAS, Alitalia, and Delta would have gotten rid of these inefficient, noisy obsolete junkers years ago. Even the flying junkyards in Africa don't want them.

Of course Thais cant admit bad news. Always give it a positive spin.

[rubik101]

Pump capacity at Swampy airport; 1 million cubic metres a day. Total flood water yet to reach the BKK metro area, 6000 million cubic meters.

[Just1Voice]

Suvarnabhumi 'will be safe'

Uh, huh, sure. Isn't that the exact same thing they said about Bangkok?

If the runways there get flooded even a little, making it dangerous or impossible for plans to land and take off, THAT would be disastrous for Thailand. Not just the immediate effect, such as cancelled flights, MORE cancelled vacation plans by tourists, rerouting schedules, etc., but as pointed out earlier, the damage to the already poor runway conditions that it would exacerbate. This would be Mother Nature's way of kicking Thailand in the head after she's already brought them to their knees.

For everyone's sake, lets hope that this time they are right.

[exalll]

Pump capacity at Swampy airport; 1 million cubic metres a day. Total flood water yet to reach the BKK metro area, 6000 million cubic meters.

Bit of a silly comment! Only a portion of the total will ever flow to BKK, and only a tiny fraction of that portion will head to Swampy.

[JoePai]

Meanwhile, Oriental Thai Airlines Chief Executive Officer Manasnan Tantiprasongchai said 9-10 parked aircraft are under water at Don Mueang Airport. Most are MD aircraft and all are waiting to be sold.

How convenient. The MD aircraft are fuel guzzlers that no one really wants. if there was a market, American Airlines, SAS, Alitalia, and Delta would have gotten rid of these inefficient, noisy obsolete junkers years ago. Even the flying junkyards in Africa don't want them.

Correct - cannot sell - wonder if they are covered by insurance

[LTGTR]

Hilarious!

"said 9-10 parked aircraft are under water at Don Mueang Airport".

NONE of those aircraft are "under water".A few of them have water reaching the underside and none are underwater unless things have changed drastically since yesterday.

[Gippy]

Do the roads leading to the airport have the same level of protection?

[Rivertiger]

I think the biggest problem will not be the water going over the defences it is under, depending on the structure of the soil, there has already been problems in the past at Survarnabhumi with small parts of runways collapsing, water will find its own level, how many underground water streams, (rivers) have been carved out because of this flood I wonder, some are under building undermining the structures. You may stop it going over but you will not stop it as it washes its way under. Hopeful the new drainage is working making the water go the easer route. I believe over the next few months leading in to the next year will be the most testing, more crime, more anger, less jobs, more diseases, structure problems, let hope its will not be as bad as I fear. Stay safe out there!

[Crushdepth]

Pump capacity at Swampy airport; 1 million cubic metres a day. Total flood water yet to reach the BKK metro area, 6000 million cubic meters.

Bit of a silly comment! Only a portion of the total will ever flow to BKK, and only a tiny fraction of that portion will head to Swampy.

Check out the map, Swampy is directly south of Klong Sam Wa, Ban Chan and Lat Krabang industrial states. Maybe they have adequate flood protection in place, but so far nobody else did.

[khaowong1]

Suvarnabhumi 'will be safe'

Uh, huh, sure. Isn't that the exact same thing they said about Bangkok?

If the runways there get flooded even a little, making it dangerous or impossible for plans to land and take off, THAT would be disastrous for Thailand. Not just the immediate effect, such as cancelled flights, MORE cancelled vacation plans by tourists, rerouting schedules, etc., but as pointed out earlier, the damage to the already poor runway conditions that it would exacerbate. This would be Mother Nature's way of kicking Thailand in the head after she's already brought them to their knees.

For everyone's sake, lets hope that this time they are right.

My grandmother used to tell me, hope in one and spit in the other and see which one gets filled first. :-)

[Bagwan]

Quote :-

He said the airport would not be affected by high sea tides because it is ten kilometres from the coast.

Unquote.

And just how far up the Mekhong, or the Thames for that matter, is tidal? Teddington is about 50 miles inland, hence the Thames barrier.

[ChoakMyDee]

""If the overflowing floodwater is not higher than 1 metre, I believe our 3.5-metre-high embankment can prevent it from entering the airport," Somchai said."

I find this statement alarming for a couple reasons...firstly, when he says "I believe" he's staing his opinion, not fact...wouldn't it be a matter of fact that the embankment would hold, not opinion? It sounds like he's trying to cover his ass by saying "I believe". Also, I'm pretty good at basic math and I cannot see why a 1 meter flood would threaten a 3.5 meter embankment...he said he "believes" the 3.5 meter embankment would prevent a 1 meter flood...<deleted>?...wouldn't a 3.5 meter embankment hold back a 3.5 meter flood? I'm not Thai so I'm obviously not as smart as him because i don't understand what he's saying.

[soidog52]

Meanwhile, Oriental Thai Airlines Chief Executive Officer Manasnan Tantiprasongchai said 9-10 parked aircraft are under water at Don Mueang Airport. Most are MD aircraft and all are waiting to be sold.

How convenient. The MD aircraft are fuel guzzlers that no one really wants. if there was a market, American Airlines, SAS, Alitalia, and Delta would have gotten rid of these inefficient, noisy obsolete junkers years ago. Even the flying junkyards in Africa don't want them.

Yes very convenient. Too bad all the engines and any descent spare parts were robbed off of these aircraft long ago and left for dead (except for 1 with engines which was obviously not flyable ). I am sure Orient Thai was not paying hull insurance so no chance of making a claim. No place to park the aircraft? How about Utapao, Korat, Chiang Mai, Surat, etc... Oh maybe they were unflyable due to no engines???? I guess they can sue the AOT instead of paying all the back parking fees they owe on these dead aircraft. Funny how they found parking for all their "airworthy" aircraft.

[siampolee]

http://www.paknam.com

Drainage Canal For Suvarnabhumi Airport

If you check this link there is an interesting piece concerning the drainage system from Survarnabhumi to the sea in Samut Prakarn. The article was along with the graphics was put ogether by Richard Barrow who to my mind and from my experience is an absoulte wealth of unbiased good information for the local area.

Edited November 2, 2011 by siampolee

[hellodolly]

Wonder if FROC will move there, they seem to choose the best locations for their Help centres.

If it does flood then it will be a huge blow, no tourists for a while, carriers having to find new places to fly into, then after the floods have cleared who is to say that all will return. And how about the Runway surfaces, they have had problems before, now if water were to get in the cracks, wow, that would be an issue.

Sorry duplicate post

Edited November 2, 2011 by hellodolly

[hellodolly]

Wonder if FROC will move there, they seem to choose the best locations for their Help centres.

If it does flood then it will be a huge blow, no tourists for a while, carriers having to find new places to fly into, then after the floods have cleared who is to say that all will return. And how about the Runway surfaces, they have had problems before, now if water were to get in the cracks, wow, that would be an issue.

You forgot mention all the problems if it freezes up and the ground underneath turns to permafrost. LOL

Is it nice the business center of Bangkok and the air port are going to be all right. People are defiantly not a priority unless there is money to be made off of them.

[Arkady]

Pump capacity at Swampy airport; 1 million cubic metres a day. Total flood water yet to reach the BKK metro area, 6000 million cubic meters.

Bit of a silly comment! Only a portion of the total will ever flow to BKK, and only a tiny fraction of that portion will head to Swampy.

Check out the map, Swampy is directly south of Klong Sam Wa, Ban Chan and Lat Krabang industrial states. Maybe they have adequate flood protection in place, but so far nobody else did.

That is the worry - officials talking about impregnable defences which just turn out to be makeshift walls recently made from mud and sandbags when you see them on the TV news. No wonder this garbage collapses. There is plenty of modern technology for building permanent and temporary flood walls in developed countries but everything here has been built without much planning, on the cheap (with much of the budgets stolen by corrupt officials) and at the last minute. I would hazard a guess that Swampy will hold but with the fiasco at Sam Wa and maybe others to come, I don't think this is an absolute certainty.

[rogerdee123]

Pump capacity at Swampy airport; 1 million cubic metres a day. Total flood water yet to reach the BKK metro area, 6000 million cubic meters.

Bit of a silly comment! Only a portion of the total will ever flow to BKK, and only a tiny fraction of that portion will head to Swampy.

Check out the map, Swampy is directly south of Klong Sam Wa, Ban Chan and Lat Krabang industrial states. Maybe they have adequate flood protection in place, but so far nobody else did.

That is the worry - officials talking about impregnable defences which just turn out to be makeshift walls recently made from mud and sandbags when you see them on the TV news. No wonder this garbage collapses. There is plenty of modern technology for building permanent and temporary flood walls in developed countries but everything here has been built without much planning, on the cheap (with much of the budgets stolen by corrupt officials) and at the last minute. I would hazard a guess that Swampy will hold but with the fiasco at Sam Wa and maybe others to come, I don't think this is an absolute certainty.

There are some pretty big impressive earthen berms built around swampy. However the authorities should not be so confident. That airport project was rife with corruption and who knows what the quality of the berm construction is/was. If the surrounding area become waterlogged and if those big berms don't have anything of significance below ground level, they won't necessarily keep the water out.

[scotto]

So who would believe anything that is said by a thai official?

[David48]

Anyone come through ole’ Swampy recently?

I’m flying in on Tuesday.

Same … any one taken a taxi from Swampy to Sukhumvit recently.

[whybother]

Anyone come through ole' Swampy recently?

I'm flying in on Tuesday.

Same … any one taken a taxi from Swampy to Sukhumvit recently.

At this point in time, there is no problems at the airport or getting to Sukhumvit.

[ThaiKiwi]

""If the overflowing floodwater is not higher than 1 metre, I believe our 3.5-metre-high embankment can prevent it from entering the airport," Somchai said."

I find this statement alarming for a couple reasons...firstly, when he says "I believe" he's staing his opinion, not fact...wouldn't it be a matter of fact that the embankment would hold, not opinion? It sounds like he's trying to cover his ass by saying "I believe". Also, I'm pretty good at basic math and I cannot see why a 1 meter flood would threaten a 3.5 meter embankment...he said he "believes" the 3.5 meter embankment would prevent a 1 meter flood...<deleted>?...wouldn't a 3.5 meter embankment hold back a 3.5 meter flood? I'm not Thai so I'm obviously not as smart as him because i don't understand what he's saying.

With flood water 1 meter deep over 10 km in all directions and flowing in the same direction, then you might find as soon as the water comes to a flood barrier, the water level might rise a little. The water keeps coming from 10km back and your 1 meter flood front will very quickly reach 3.5 meters and then over flow. The water then stops rising until it reaches another barrier.

[smedly]

I'm flying into BBK Sat, hoping there are no issues, very difficult to tell anything from the news releases.

[block2]

we live in Nakon Sawn and we have had this and still havin this since june....we are now starting to rebuild our lives .....the water as come to bangkok and is still coming your way....please wake up....it is not going to by pass any sandbags...or flood barriers..when it hits..it finds its own route and leaves total devastation behind