Low Cost Airlines And Domestic Flights To Move To Don Mueang Airport

[davehowden]

Another "half-arsed" make it up as we go along decision by the "government".

So passengers arriving from aboard need to trek across BKK to get a flight to Phuket/ Chiang Mai etc., bloody brilliant.

Will do wonders for tourism in those locations.

What have the provincial governors got to say?

[scorecard]

For every person inconvenienced by this move (if/when it happens) there will be another who welcomes it. The real story here is that Suwannaphum, planned and promoted as a single airport for Bangkok, clearly is already having trouble performing that role, never mind five or ten years into the future.

How true, I fly CM - Bkk and return very regularly. From DM airport I have a ten minute taxi ride to my work and also my hotel destination. For me couldn't be better.

[britmaveric]

Will be interesting for those who already book their tickets same day with Air Asia.

[sjjmmi]

Super news for me never fly domestic

[Rancid]

Hmm, no doubt there will be millions up for grabs in infrastructure upgrades, as such an excellent political decision, no doubt the cabinet is ecstatic.

[Jimmu]

I fly domestically, regionally and internationally on a regular basis. For me it will work out well. Many other cities operate more than one airport and travelling between them just requires planning.

[topcrumpet]

Seriously people, there's a lot of whinging and whining here over a few extra hours.It's not as if any of us are daily commuters and will be soooo inconvenienced by this decision. Why not just read a book, watch the people parade, or stay overnight if necessary? Airports all around the world are overloaded, at least there is a viable alternative for Bangkok with two large airports available.

[notmyself]

Chaos in the making. No doubt Bangkok airways will be offering a cheap flight from DM to Swampy for 4k.

[snuggzzz]

The number of flights into Swampy has obviously overwhelmed the facilities there. Whilst the change is understood and Don Muang can in the short term cater for the overload, I do feel that consideration be given to building another runway at Swampy or opening up U-Tapeo for international flights.

[althemighty]

I have already booked flights with air asia for october and december to fly into thailand then to fly to ubon. If international air asia flights land at the old airport this would be a good thing because in the future i can fly air asia then go either air asia or nok air to Ubon. So prices would be cheaper as right now I don't fly nok air because of the connection. My complaint I have right now is that I booked a hotel room near the new airport which now is a complete waste of money. Also is there even enough cheap hotels near the old airport? I love thailand because of the cheap hotels near the airport.

[baboon]

I was always fond of the place. Lots and lots of memories. I am glad it is making something of a comeback.Thailand for me has somehow never been quite the same since Suvarnaphumi opened. It is all in the mind I know, but still....

[TinoThailand]

They might wanto build some dikes around it. Or you get a shiphole just like us in Holland hahaha.

[ochayethenoo]

Well, living in Chiang Mai, that's made any future decisions on international flights very easy for me - just forget about Bangkok.

Singapore or Kuala Lumpur for me, if I can't get a direct flight from CM.

Never been to Swampy, now I never will. Don't think I'm missing much!

[bangkokheat]

no need for this, if the political problems keep going, corruption unabated, mystery deaths covered up etc etc perhaps in the near future suvarnabhumi will do just nicely, Im already looking at the option to move to vietnam

[ironhut]

Seems quite short sighted considering they've announced no transport infrastructure in place to connect people for transfers between the airports. As if Bangkok needs another million passengers on the road each year clogging up the roads doing a Suvarnabhumi -> Don Mueang transfer! They desperately need a rail link. Is such a thing even possible though?

Sure. Absolutely they have a rail link between the Don and downtown....oh wait....that's right, they started it and built all the concrete platforms and structure and then decided to stop since Swampy was to be the main airport. Decided that the billions of baht already spent should be wasted since Swampy was the real deal. Hmmmm, I wonder what kind of shape all that concrete infrastructure is in?

[thaikahuna]

.........Wait.........something is wrong here!...........This is far too logical a decision for Thailand!

Hardly logical - it just pisses international travellers off, as they now have to travel across BKK to get a domestic flight!?

It may well benefit 'in-country' travel, but doesn't help anyone else.

And as mentioned above, it is probably a tactic to move Air-Asia away from Suvarnabhumi to help Thai Airways get a larger chunk of profits from people who don't have time to travel across town to catch a connecting flight.

Jokers...

If Thai wants a bigger piece of the pie, they should lower their rates. If you research top 10 highest cost airlines you will find they are all national airlines. Thai is bloated and needs to trim back and start with lower fares. There is also no doubt that they want Air Asia out of the market and this is the only way to do it.

[theblether]

Seriously people, there's a lot of whinging and whining here over a few extra hours.It's not as if any of us are daily commuters and will be soooo inconvenienced by this decision. Why not just read a book, watch the people parade, or stay overnight if necessary? Airports all around the world are overloaded, at least there is a viable alternative for Bangkok with two large airports available.

No thanks, I fly about 30-40 times a year, I don't want to spend extra time and expense hanging around hotels and airports just because the airport operators can't do their job correctly.

[whybother]

Transport won't be a problem. They'll start the flights between the airports again.

THAI Begins Flights From Don Muang To Suvarnabhumi

BANGKOK – Thai Airways today announced the launch of service between Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport and Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Beginning April 30, passengers can fly six times daily from one side of Bangkok to the other in under an hour.

http://notthenation.com/2011/03/thai-begins-flights-from-don-muang-to-suvarnabhumi/

[domomc]

Bangkok Airways will be impressed!?!?

[SymS]

I haven't flown for a while, but I thought domestic flights for low cost companies such as Air Asia where based in Don Mueang.

Maybe I stayed "grounded" for too long...

[PattayaPhom]

Maybe am inconvenience to some but hey, look at Heatrow...and what about low cost flying from Stanstead...same as.

[jackspratt]

no need for this, if the political problems keep going, corruption unabated, mystery deaths covered up etc etc perhaps in the near future suvarnabhumi will do just nicely, Im already looking at the option to move to vietnam

Bye bye!

[theblether]

Maybe am inconvenience to some but hey, look at Heatrow...and what about low cost flying from Stanstead...same as.

No it's not........you can get a domestic flight to Heathrow, this proposal reads that you cannot get a domestic flight to Swampy..........if that's the case it's mental.

Who in their right mind thinks it's a good idea to oblige every single international passenger that wants to connect domestically to travel across BKK to an airport that's a known flood risk.

It's just rank stupidity.

I have no problem with being given a choice, for example fly with Airasia DM to CM for 2000 baht, or go with Thai for 3000 baht from Swampy, I'm paying the three thousand baht. It might have escaped the attention of some people, but when I'm on holiday I don't want to eff about in taxi ranks, traffic jams and airport concourses. I'll spend the extra 1000 baht easy for the convenience, in fact in my case I would go more than that.

[jackspratt]

Waiting for U-tapao to be redeveloped for charter airlines: common sense may finally prevail, but the Navy will want a cut of the action, along with Air Force at DM

How does this relate to domestic flights into DM or Swampy?

[terry101]

I guess there goes Yingluck's idea about having a tourism income of 2 trillion baht within 5 years, I guess her people will have to go and redo their numbers now.

From me thats involved in the hotel industry, I personally think this is a big mistake. This will result in international travelers spending more time and money in Bkk, resulting in less spending at the other holiday destinations, directly & indirectly affecting the smaller "tourism" bussinesses.

Clearly no one has done their homework on this one. Unfortunately not the right decision.

[terry101]

Seriously people, there's a lot of whinging and whining here over a few extra hours.It's not as if any of us are daily commuters and will be soooo inconvenienced by this decision. Why not just read a book, watch the people parade, or stay overnight if necessary? Airports all around the world are overloaded, at least there is a viable alternative for Bangkok with two large airports available.

Well obviously you dont work in the hotel industry who is directly affected by these types of things.

For hotels in Bkk it is rather convenient, but for hotels in other provinces which rely on international travelers it is a mess. alternately means more money spent in Bkk and less money spent in other parts of Thailand, so yea someone who does work in the hotel industry will be soooo inconvenienced by this decision. You have to understand that this is not only a decision which will affect all of you people in Bkk, but does affect the rest of Thailand as well.

[theblether]

Waiting for U-tapao to be redeveloped for charter airlines: common sense may finally prevail, but the Navy will want a cut of the action, along with Air Force at DM

How does this relate to domestic flights into DM or Swampy?

Direct international flights into U-tapao would release international landing slots at Swampy and ease the pressure, hence allowing Swampy to continue to act as a domestic hub.

[skorchio]

Will Thai Air domestic flights also move to Don Mueang? Or, is this a way to help Thai Air compete against the likes of Air Asia by moving them to DM and making it more difficult for connecting flights? Exactly which airlines are moving? My wish is for all domestic flights to move to DM - would make my life easier flying in-country.

and will make life a horrible mess when flying international.....changing airports is going to mean flying a day early in many cases. I guess Thai will be staying put at Swampy ....

[cutter007]

The reason they have announced this 3 or 4 times but never did it is because they know it's going to

Be an utter mess. So to finally pull the trigger they have to figure out how to use the mess it will create as a political tool.

If Thai politicians weren't such pitiful clowns they would do what most of us would do, and hire a professional and foreign consulting company to do a feasibility study on the proposed changes and an implementation process. But when has doing something efficiently or correctly been a priority here.

So since most Thai politicians need to look up what feasibility means on google, expect a haphazard move that looks

Iike it was sketched by two drunks on a napkin

[WilliaminBKK]

In my opinion they used the word domestic before thinking...........there is no way TG will operate domestic from another airport-they are a spoke and hub airline with thousands of codeshares with other Star Alliance carriers. There is no way in hell someone would fly from London to Bangkok, change airports to fly to Phuket. Maybe Thaismile will move there but the core airline operation needs to stay in one airport.

There are so many cities that have LCC at another airport and there are no decent links between the airport, ever tried getting from Heathrow to Luton or Standsted, or from JFK to LGA, Orly to CDG, FCO to CIA it is a pain in the butt.

But think about it, the LCC's like Scoot or Cebu Pacific they are point to point with no interlining in BKK so move them out and de-congest swampy.