Bkk Airport In Use>>>

[slippery when wet]

Is the new Bangkok airport in use or is the old Don Muang airport still being used??

[Florin]

Old Don Muang, at least until July.

[daleyboy]

July which year though nobody knows

[Rinrada]

Bit of info from Aviation Tech...... ...will it wont it.......

The new Suvarnabhumi Airport, which is due to replace the overloaded and unexpandable Bangkok International Airport (Don Muang), is scheduled to open in June 2006.

However, this date may be delayed until September 2006 for testing and validation by ICAO.

The 'New Bangkok International Airport' company was formed in 1996 but due to political and economic chaos it took six years for construction to start. The new airport has also been delayed countless times due to cost overruns and construction problems.

The new airport is located on a boggy, 3,100ha site in the Samut Prakarn province of Thailand at Nong Ngu Hao (translated as Cobra Swamp), 30km east of Bangkok. Construction of Suvarnabhumi Airport began in January 2002.

Don Muang will be relegated to domestic-only status when the new airport opens. Don Muang is currently the world's 22nd busiest airport and the busiest in Southeast Asia, but it has already reached its full capacity at over 37 million passengers per year.

Suvarnabhumi will be able to cope with 30 million passengers per year when it first opens, a figure which will be increased to 45 million within a short space of time. Following further expansion phases, including two additional runways, it will cater for over 100 million passengers per year.

AIRPORT FACILITIES AND CAPACITY

Suvarnabhumi Airport will operate as many as 76 flights per hour on two simultaneous runways; it will have 51 aircraft stands and 69 remote parking bays for wide-bodied aircrafts and handle over 1.46 million tons of cargo annually.

Facilities to be completed in the first phase include:

563,000m² passenger terminal

Two parallel runways, each 60m wide and 3,700m long with a runway separation distance of 2,200m

132m air traffic control tower

Two parking garages with a capacity for 5,000 cars

190,000m² cargo terminal

Aircraft maintenance facilities: four fully equipped aircraft hangars to service up to 12 aircraft simultaneously

Three separate catering facilities to cater for 65,000 airlines meals per day

Landside road system: 2 x 2 lane roads inside the airport with a total length of 36km

Utility system: 40,000m³ water tank; water treatment system for 12,000m³ of water per day; main transformer station for transforming electricity from 115kV to 24kV; eight garbage collection stations; seven telephone exchanges and two main exchanges

Electrical railway system: a future extension will swiftly transport passengers to and from central Bangkok

First-class hotel with 1,500 rooms (New Honey Hotel.. )

Express freight facilities: one warehouse, one office building, 12 aircraft stands

PASSENGER TERMINAL COMPLEX

Designed by the MJTA group of consultants, comprising Murphy Jahn Architecture and TAMS consultant (USA) and ACT Engineering consultant (Thailand), the passenger terminal complex (comprising the terminal itself as well as the concourse) covers an area of 182,000m².

Seven floors and a basement will give the terminal a total floor area of over 500,000m², making it the largest in the world. An innovative roof trellis (one of the largest in the world), designed to shade the building against intense tropical sun and reduce the cost of air conditioning, will also be the largest of its kind.

The domestic and international halls are clearly separated with the second floor as a dedicated arrival hall and the fourth floor as a departure hall. The structure's main materials are steel and glass.

MJTA's original design for the new terminal was criticised by Thai architects over a lack of 'Thai characteristics'. The government responded by forming a special committee to ensure that these concerns were addressed and that the building displayed evidence of the local cultural and artistic heritage.

The contract for construction of the Suvarnabhumi Airport's passenger terminal complex was awarded to Italian-Thai Development (Ital-Thai) after a lengthy bidding period. Other companies involved include Obayashi Corp, Takenaka Corp, CM Kamchang and Freyssinet International.

The concourse, with an area of 381,000m² is 40m wide, 3,213m long and 25m high. Its main structure is made of steel. Enclosure materials are locally manufactured glass and Teflon coated fabric.

ATC COMPLEX

Suvanabhumi Airport will have one of the tallest control tower complexes in the world at 132m with 2,600m² of utility space. The ATC tower and complex is being constructed by Aeronautical Radio of Thailand Co (Aerothai) who are contracted to provide air traffic control services, aeronautical telecommunication services, and air navigation aids services. They, in turn, have subcontracted the construction portion of the project to Siam Syntech-Unique Engineering consortium. The project is worth THB574.8 million and is due for completion by late 2005.

The control tower, with an area of 60m² x 60m², will be located in the landside area, north of the passenger terminal complex. The operational centre has been designed to be 132m tall to provide excellent visibility for air traffic controllers across the north runway and taxiway, 4km away.

The elegant control tower will also be the major landmark of the new airport. The ATC complex, which will house 300 engineers and support staff, has been designed as a square-shaped, five-storey building, 22m high, providing utility space of 4,200m². This building will be the office of the aerodrome control unit, and the base of the air traffic service engineering systems, aeronautical telecommunications systems, airlines and airport services as well as other support units at the airport.

AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SERVICES

In order to ensure the efficiency and safety of air traffic control services at the Second Bangkok International Airports, Aerothai plans to centralise Bangkok approach control at the control tower. Responsibility will be divided between the East Sector; responsible for approach control between bearing 031-210 and the West Sector; responsible for approach control between bearing 211-030.

In order to achieve the most efficient air traffic control services possible within the Bangkok Terminal Area (TMA), Aerothai will also implement Standard Instrument Departure (SID) and Standard Instrument Arrival Route (STAR) including reporting points, and realign route structure.

Aerodrome control will be responsible for air traffic control service within 5nm of the airport including any airside traffic such as on the runways, taxiways and bays.

Communication systems will include air/ground radio systems via VHF and UHF and an Aeronautical Information Service (AIS). Navigation and surveillance aids systems will include:

Doppler Very High Frequency Omni Range / Distance Measuring Equipment (DVOR/DME)

Instrument Landing System / Distance Measuring Equipment (ILS/DME), eight sets at THB40 million ($0.9 million) each

Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS)

ATC radar system

Airport surface detection equipment

Automatic dependence surveillance

A fibre optics communication network will be provided as the main media within the airport while communication with public networks will be made through a digital data network. These two networks allow the air traffic controllers to communicate with related agencies efficiently, reliably and speedily via voice, data or video. The total budget for the construction and installation of systems is nearly THB3 billion Baht ($70 million).

SECURITY INSTALLATIONS

All 26 of the CTX 9000 explosive detection baggage scanning devices and their accessories were installed at the new airport by the end of 2005. The supplier for this equipment is the US company GE-Invision, with a contract worth $65 million.

AIRPORT ACCESS

Road access to the new airport will be provided by a series of new highways connected to Bangkok's existing outer ring road. The main access road is an elevated 2 x 5 lane road that leads from the passenger terminal through the northern part of the site to the new Bangkok–Chonburi highway. Construction of these link and access roads is due to be complete by the final quarter of 2005.

There are proposed plans to extend the Skytrain from Onnui to the new airport but nothing has been decided to date; SRT's highspeed rail project from Huay-Kwang to Lad Krabang to Chonburi will have a spur line connecting to the new airport.

SITE UTILITIES

The central utility system comprises a 40,000m³ water tank, a water pumping station with pressure control system, a 12,200m³/d waste water treatment system and a control building.

It is all being built by Ital-Thai.