Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport To Resume Normal Service Tuesday

[webfact]

Don Mueang Airport to resume normal service Tuesday

BANGKOK, March 5 - Don Mueang Airport is due to resume normal services on Tuesday after it was forced to close during last year’s flood crisis.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is scheduled to preside over a reopening event on Monday.

The government allocated 392 million baht to the Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AoT), with the AoT spending 1.2 billion baht of its own budget to rehabilitate the airport.

The Aeronautical Radio of Thailand LTD has also checked the safety standards of Don Mueang Airport and found that all systems, equipment and facilities were at full readiness to resume operation.

The AoT applied international sanitary standard to kill microbes and odor to ensure the facilities are toxin-free, assisted by the Department of Health, Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University.

Nok Air chief executive Patee Sarasin said low cost carrier Nok Air would resume 82 normal daily flights at Don Mueang Airport on March 6, beginning at 6 am after it temporarily moved to Suvarnabhumi Airport following the flood.

However, budget carrier Orient Thai Airlines will remain at Suvarnabhumi Airport for some time before later moving back to its base at Don Mueang, mainly used for domestic flights. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2012-03-05

[webfact]

Don Mueang flights to resume

The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Don Mueang Airport is set to resume flights tomorrow after floods forced it to close last year.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will preside over a reopening ceremony today, according to MCOT online news.

The government allocated Bt392 million to rehabilitate the airport, while Airports of Thailand Plc spent Bt1.2 billion of its own funds.

Aeronautical Radio of Thailand has checked the safety standards of Don Mueang Airport and found that all systems, equipment and facilities are at full readiness to restart commercial operations, MCOT reported.

-- The Nation 2012-03-05

[h90]

what about solar air?

[tartempion]

Yep, I cancelled my Nok flight to Bangkok.

One choice less to fly to Suvarnabhumi.

Beats me why they are reopening Don Mueang, the military own that place right?

[airconsult]

Yep, I cancelled my Nok flight to Bangkok.

One choice less to fly to Suvarnabhumi.

Beats me why they are reopening Don Mueang, the military own that pstage 3 lace right?

No, Don Mueang is owned by AOT, however RTAF has a base there, and the RTAF academy is nearby.

Back in 2006 AOT wished to close it permanently as it was costing them 70 million THB per month to operate, however some facilities at Don Mueang will not be replicated at Suvarnabhumi until stage 3 of expansion (currently only finished stage 1). Also the RTAF did not want to pick up the cost under their budget of operating the airfield.

Politically, probably the most important item missing from Suvarnabhumi is the separate VIP terminal at Don Mueang.

Cheers

[webfact]

Bangkok's number two airport to reopen

BANGKOK, March 5, 2012 (AFP) - Bangkok's second largest airport will reopen this week after a more than four-month closure owing to the kingdom's worst floods in decades, an official said Monday.

"We are 100-percent ready to resume services on Tuesday," the general manager of Don Mueang International Airport in the north of the city, Kanputt Mungklasiri, told AFP.

The airport, which had been used for some domestic flights, suspended commercial operations in late October as the floods spilled into the capital.

The runways were submerged, but Kanputt said all the facilities had now been restored to normal.

Transport Minister Jarupong Ruangsuwan said during a visit to Don Mueang on Monday that almost 1.6 billion baht ($52 million) had been spent to make the airport operational again.

He said new flood protection walls would be built around the facility.

So far, however, only Nok Air, one of the two main airlines previously operating at Don Mueang, has announced a move back from the main airport Suvarnabhumi, which is located to the east of the capital and was not flooded.

The other carrier, Orient Thai, plans to stay at Suvarnabhumi because it does not want to move its base again, the Bangkok Post English-language daily reported, quoting group founder Udom Tantiprasongchai.

The airport also doubled as a temporary evacuee shelter and a headquarters for the government's flood relief operation until it was inundated.

The months-long disaster killed hundreds of people, mostly in northern and central Thailand.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2012-03-05

[airconsult]

Funny man... "Bangkok's second largest airport....."

Newsflash... there's only 2 - old spot on the river where they occassionally used flying boats was shut down many years ago......

But if you *really* want to be picky, Don Mueang is the only airport in Bangkok, as Suvarnabhumi is in Samut Prakan.

ICAO listing (as not all airports have an IATA code) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_by_ICAO_code:_V#VT_-_Thailand

(58 total listed by ICAO if you're curious - but most have little importance unless you have your own private plane)

Cheers

[h90]

Yep, I cancelled my Nok flight to Bangkok.

One choice less to fly to Suvarnabhumi.

Beats me why they are reopening Don Mueang, the military own that place right?

I went BKK to NST on Sunday and big delay because Suvarnabhumi was overloaded. So good they go back. Solar Air wasn't allowed to use Suvarnabumi and Orient Thai had to cut flights.

(Thaksin is involved in Air Asia).

So I am happy to have Don Muang again.

[airconsult]

Yep, I cancelled my Nok flight to Bangkok.

One choice less to fly to Suvarnabhumi.

Beats me why they are reopening Don Mueang, the military own that place right?

I went BKK to NST on Sunday and big delay because Suvarnabhumi was overloaded. So good they go back. Solar Air wasn't allowed to use Suvarnabumi and Orient Thai had to cut flights.

(Thaksin is involved in Air Asia).

So I am happy to have Don Muang again.

Hmm if there hadn't been certain 'events' in 2006 - by now the second terminal and 3rd runway would have been completed at Suvarnabhumi. And you wouldn't have had a problem.

To give some perspective, in 2004 Don Mueag handled 38 million passengers (if you cast your mind back you can remember how horribly cramped it was as the original design max was for much less), in 2011 Suvarnabhumi handled 47.5 million passengers. The first stage design max was for 45 million. (see above - planning took into account expansion over time).