Pm Yingluck Orders All Budget Airlines To Fly From Don Mueang Airport

[webfact]

AIR TRAFFIC

Budget air to fly from Don Mueang

Watcharapong Thongrung

Bamrung Amnartchareonrit

The Nation

Govt decision prompted by mounting chaos and congestion at Suvarnabhumi

BANGKOK: -- Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered that all low-cost airlines move to Don Mueang Airport to improve air and runway traffic at Suvarnabhumi, but the plan is unlikely to ease the current turmoil frustrating countless travellers.

The shift of low-cost carriers to Don Mueang was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silapa-archa yesterday in response to a growing outcry from departing Suvarnabhumi passengers, many of whom have missed flights or suffered close calls.

People familiar with the problem doubt whether the long-planned move of low-cost services to Don Mueang will ease the current crisis at Suvarnabhumi, where renovation work has cut the capacity of immigration checkpoints by two-thirds.

Officials contacted by The Nation yesterday could not say for certain when the renovation work would be completed.

Chumpol admitted that the current problem of passenger congestion stemmed from the fact that only one of Suvarnabhumi's three immigration gates was operating.

International passengers are now being advised to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their flight leaves, rather than the standard two hours.

Chumpol said news of the passenger bottleneck only reached him on Wednesday. He said he could not get involved with the problem but gave assurances that the transfer of low-cost airlines to Don Mueang Airport would help reduce the congestion.

He is now working with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Tourist Police, and Airports of Thailand (AOT) to help increase personnel by 30 to 40.

Meanwhile, Deputy Transport Minister Chatchart Sithipan said yesterday that in the short term, the ministry would increase officers at the Suvarnabhumi's immigration areas to help relieve congestion in the short term. AOT, as the airport operator, has been assigned the task. In addition, the ministry is coordinating with police to help out.

In the long term, he said the airport would deploy technologies such as an e-passport system that consumes less time, especially with Thai passengers. This would also resolve the problem of congestion at the airport during rush hours. Currently, Suvarnabhumi has annual traffic of 48 million passengers, in excess of its capacity of 45 million.

An Immigration Police source said increasing checkpoint staff was not the answer. "All checkpoints are being manned to full capacity. The problem is not shortage of personnel," the source said.

A source at the Transport Ministry said the government planned to move all domestic and international flights serviced by low-cost airlines to Don Mueang Airport in a bid to resolve congestion at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the long run.

"It's believed that the government must encourage low-cost airlines with incentives to move their services to Don Mueang Airport," said the source, adding that AirAsia alone had 82-90 flights daily.

Apart from AirAsia, major low-cost airlines using Suvarnabhumi Airport are Bangkok Airways and Orient Thai.

Somchai Sawasdipol, acting director of Suvarnabhumi Airport, said he had coordinated with immigration officials to solve the problem of long queues and would pay overtime to officials of Bt100,000 per day as incentive.

Of total immigration counters, 124 are for inbound passengers and 80 are for the outbound.

Maiyarat Pheerayakoses, president of the Association of Domestic Travel, said she had no problem with the government move to shift all low-cost flights to Don Mueang Airport. However, the government should do it very carefully, especially in cases of passengers with connecting flights.

As a long-term solution, she said she did not mind having two airports in Bangkok. It is common in other nations to have separate domestic and international airports. However, transport connection between the two must be developed well to make it convenient for passengers.

The new phase of construction development at Suvarnabhumi should proceed quickly so as to be ready to serve the growing number of passengers after the implementation of the Asean Economic Community in 2015, she said.

Speaking of the current congestion, she said the problem was due to mismanagement by the Immigration Bureau at the airport. She urged the agency to tackle the problem quickly by increasing the number of officers working at the airport.

-- The Nation 2012-03-16

[marquess]

They got themselves into this problem by opening a new airport and closing the old one the following day, when even a school boy planner would realise that two airports are probably better than one in the long term. Also why have the authorities not prioritised the link between Don Muang and S airport? I think that when it comes to planning Mr Macgue is probably more effective.

[takatukaland]

That's all not the problem,if I travel to other countries like UAE,Malaysia,Singapore or back to Europe,the passport control takes 1-2minutes per person,sometimes less than that,here in Thailand it takes 3-5 min.i think Thai immigration officers are afraid to make a mistake,or maybe their computer is outdated

[CPT]

Are there any rail links planned between the two airports?

[alant]

Makes you think that the Thai government may be favouring its national carrier especially if it is classing Bangkok Airways as a low-cost carrier. This would virtually ensure that the only airline from Thailand's regional airports to Transcontinental International flights would be Thai air.

Perhaps this is linked to the future as as a part of ASEAN

[moe666]

Explain to me how Thai Immigration has control over a 747 load of Chinese tourist arriving and none read or write Thai or English, good luck having your arrival card filled out and ready when you step in front of the officer. No matter how much the, all things Thai or wrong brigade complains there are just a few things that are beyond the control of immigration.

[espinoza]

If they could mann all the counters, I`m sure it would help.

I cannot understand how in the lords name they could close down two of the gates for renovation works at the same time. It has to be a drunk mans decision.

[Zpete]

Are there any rail links planned between the two airports?

Exactly what is needed, but would not be cost effective to build.

Express bus service with priority on the roads.

Flite connections need to be easy and fast.

[whybother]

Are there any rail links planned between the two airports?

Exactly what is needed, but would not be cost effective to build.

Express bus service with priority on the roads.

Flite connections need to be easy and fast.

The Airport express going to Phaya Thai is being extended to go north to Don Meaung.

"Express bus service with priority on the roads"

[CWMcMurray]

I think Espinoza hit it ...

There are 3 immigration , if they had only closed one at a time for renovations ... Then no problem

[keestha]

Quoting the opening post:

"People familiar with the problem doubt whether the long-planned move of low-cost services to Don Mueang will ease the current crisis at Suvarnabhumi, where renovation work has cut the capacity of immigration checkpoints by two-thirds."

Was it really technically impossible to start and finish this renovation during the low tourism season?

[CWMcMurray]

Also when I was at airport earlier this month, many of the lines only had 1 immigration officer rather than 2

[sbk]

That's all not the problem,if I travel to other countries like UAE,Malaysia,Singapore or back to Europe,the passport control takes 1-2minutes per person,sometimes less than that,here in Thailand it takes 3-5 min.i think Thai immigration officers are afraid to make a mistake,or maybe their computer is outdated

Never flown into a major airport in the US, have you? I waited for at least 15 minutes in the US citizens queue at San Francisco recently

[Jayman]

Explain to me how Thai Immigration has control over a 747 load of Chinese tourist arriving and none read or write Thai or English, good luck having your arrival card filled out and ready when you step in front of the officer. No matter how much the, all things Thai or wrong brigade complains there are just a few things that are beyond the control of immigration.

Ohh really.. beyond their control is it? They don't have Chinese fonts in their computers? Can't add some Chinese cards to the mix? After all, they are catering to the Chinese tourists right? Even in Pattaya they have enough sense to put up signs in Chinese to attract them as visitors.

[mowgus]

Is it just me or, will they just divert the problem to DM? Does DM have enough immigration officers to handle air asia's load alone?

And yeah...until there's a rail link between the two, this simply won't work. Buses will never make connections in time...there is no such thing as "priority" on the highways in Thailand. Hell, a firetruck with lights and sirens can't get through. If I am flying into swampy from Chiang Mai and then have an International flight out, I can only imagine the hell trying to get from one to the other. I'd have to plan to spend the night realistically. Maybe that's the plan!? Make people stay a night in BKK to help with tourist dollars . Hmmmm...ok, guess I'll fly direct to Malaysia .

[givenall]

Don Mueang should be closed all together and focus only on the Suvarnabhumi

I just don’t understand how one peson can order and dictate to business without any regard to anything, especially business conditions. What kind of democracy is she practicing

[Crushdepth]

Introduce passport scanning machines and get rid of excess immigration officers. They already keep electronic records, so why not phase out the bloody rubber stamps?

[MESmith]

Bangkok Airways = Low cost? This will really screw their expansion plans, as they seem to be popular choice for international passengers transiting at BKK. Whose idea was this? Boss of Thai Air?

And at the moment, international arriving & departing passengers don't join the long immigration queues at Swampy. I pass through immigration on the way out at CNX & use the transit area immigration on arrival.

Edited March 16, 2012 by MESmith

[takatukaland]

That's all not the problem,if I travel to other countries like UAE,Malaysia,Singapore or back to Europe,the passport control takes 1-2minutes per person,sometimes less than that,here in Thailand it takes 3-5 min.i think Thai immigration officers are afraid to make a mistake,or maybe their computer is outdated

Never flown into a major airport in the US, have you? I waited for at least 15 minutes in the US citizens queue at San Francisco recently

I don't think you campare paranoid USA immigration with other countries,I was a while ago in Miami,arrived from Frankfurt germany,immigration in Miami treats anybody like terrorist,on top dogs walking around and sniffing at u and ur bags,

[BoonToong]

"An Immigration Police source said increasing checkpoint staff was not the answer. "All checkpoints are being manned to full capacity. The problem is not shortage of personnel," the source said."

That is certainly not my observation on the 10 times I have been through the airport in the past 2 months......On those 10 occasions I have always seen empty booths.

Methinks someone is telling porkies :-)

[WilliaminBKK]

Here is a quick solution - foreign low cost carriers don't just target local LCC's, Tiger, Cebu Pacific, Firefly, Hong Kong Airlines all move to DM, if the airline doesn't feed onward passengers off they go to DM, look at each carrier and incent them to move with lower landing fees/parking etc take Tranaero from Russia it is truly point to point-Air Koyro etc. Thai operates a spoke and hub system they should be given priority as BKK is home (go ahead say you don't like Thai) but it is reality. United Airlines and Amercian Airlines control ORD, low cost are out of MDW, in London STN & LTN are the low cost airports.

London has 6 airports and of course people want links between Heathrow/Gatwick/Luton/Stansted/London City/Londond Southend but it doesn't work ...... so why bother even to attempt it in BKK ? for immigration woes make APIS information mandatory for all passengers to speed up formalities.

[lannarebirth]

Looks like a sweetheart deal for Thai Inter. They'll get many more international flights from Thailand not originating in Bangkok now.

[Dibbler]

The solution is to send Immigration Police and AoT officials to a major international airport like Doha or JFK, or Joburg to understand the work ethic required to process passengers in 1 to 2 min. Why cant Suwannaphum handle the current volume of passenger traffic! It was designed to.

[KKvampire]

Pathetic PM, too incompetent to sort out the problems so telling airlines where to go,I hope and know airasia will tell the politicians where to go

Posted with Thaivisa App http://apps.thaivisa.com

[draftvader]

Thailand - The hub of losing hubs

[draftvader]

When London Transport was building the Heathrow loop for the Underground back in the 1970s they had the foresight to create the space for the station at Terminal 5 in the loop. Terminal 5 didn't open until nearly 30 years later, but they had planned ahead to reduce cost and allow for a speedy implementation.

Taking time to study and learn is worth the investment because you don't have to repeat costly mistakes made by your predecessors. If a previous project works well you "model" it.

When will foreign learning have a place in the Thai system? This xenophobia has an actual THB cost to the Thai society.

[Jayman]

I love Thais and Thailand and I mean it. Saying that I can also say that forward thinking and thinking outside the box is not their strong suit. They tend to live in the now and don't think much past that unfortunately (or fortunately).

[doggie888888]

Explain to me how Thai Immigration has control over a 747 load of Chinese tourist arriving and none read or write Thai or English, good luck having your arrival card filled out and ready when you step in front of the officer. No matter how much the, all things Thai or wrong brigade complains there are just a few things that are beyond the control of immigration.

A few years ago I travelled from SH to KL, I think it was on MAS...literally with 747 load of Chinese tourist. ON THE PLANE, prior to landing, announcments were made in CHINESE about landing forms etc and that passengers should speak to cabin crew if help was required, which had everyone scrambling, some mass announcements and even tour group leaders helping to complete forms. After landing, there was an airoport staff at the immigration area guiding these people alomg, so it was as orderly as could be expected. No big deal for the rest of us really.

See, some things you can plan for. It's not like the thais are not expecting any Chinese tourists!

[LivinLOS]

That's all not the problem,if I travel to other countries like UAE,Malaysia,Singapore or back to Europe,the passport control takes 1-2minutes per person,sometimes less than that,here in Thailand it takes 3-5 min.i think Thai immigration officers are afraid to make a mistake,or maybe their computer is outdated

Afraid to make a mistake ???

I have a 1 year extension... About half the time, even having put down my visa / extension number on the form, they just stamp me 30 days blindly.. Last week they did the same to my Gf arriving with a TV..

If they are afraid of making mistakes, they sure do seem to make a lot of them.

[LivinLOS]

Explain to me how Thai Immigration has control over a 747 load of Chinese tourist arriving and none read or write Thai or English, good luck having your arrival card filled out and ready when you step in front of the officer. No matter how much the, all things Thai or wrong brigade complains there are just a few things that are beyond the control of immigration.

How about dont design a stupid system relying on out dated paper cards..

Most countries you put your machine readable passport to a scanner.. Put a hand on a finger print machine.. etc.. Hell if Cambodia can do these things, and run 3g deep in the jungle.. While having the levels of poverty and corruption they do, you really do have to wonder.