New Project For Airport On Koh Phangan

[EvilDrSomkid]

After having returned from KPN on Tuesday, I would say that my opinion on having an airport/airstrip on KPN has changed.

We did the Nok Air flight to Surat, then a combination of boats, buses, vans etc.

The way back was quite tricky. We were on Haad Yuan and the sea was rough. The longtail boss on that beach is a little crazy.

We ended up walking to Haad Tien and took a 4WD pick up from there to Thong Sala. Scariest drive I have ever been on.

[AngThong]

It's a pretty hairy road. Thong Nai Pan to Bottle beach isn't nice either, unless you're walking.

I like to think that some places should be difficult to get to... Not necessarily in terms of money but time and effort. It brings qualities that fast & easy never will. Of course, everything is relative - how many of us would be here if things had never changed from the early era of the 70's/80's. I for one prefer a quiet, laid back vibe without lots of expensive upmarket resorts and easy access... My favourite places are the ones you have to hike or catch a longtail to, not many such beaches left on KPG.

I can see the sense an airport would make to the kind of upmarket places that fill TNP Noi and are increasingly spreading to TNP Yai these days. If you pay 10,000+ baht a night, I'm sure you'll prefer a quick & easy flight from Bangkok. I might not mind much if they built it in, say, Ban Tai/Kai or somewhere thereabouts - would make sense in a lot of ways, but building permits etc. might be harder to get. But not Than Sadet... totally wrong spot.

[EvilDrSomkid]

It's a pretty hairy road. Thong Nai Pan to Bottle beach isn't nice either, unless you're walking.

I like to think that some places should be difficult to get to... Not necessarily in terms of money but time and effort. It brings qualities that fast & easy never will. Of course, everything is relative - how many of us would be here if things had never changed from the early era of the 70's/80's. I for one prefer a quiet, laid back vibe without lots of expensive upmarket resorts and easy access... My favourite places are the ones you have to hike or catch a longtail to, not many such beaches left on KPG.

I can see the sense an airport would make to the kind of upmarket places that fill TNP Noi and are increasingly spreading to TNP Yai these days. If you pay 10,000+ baht a night, I'm sure you'll prefer a quick & easy flight from Bangkok. I might not mind much if they built it in, say, Ban Tai/Kai or somewhere thereabouts - would make sense in a lot of ways, but building permits etc. might be harder to get. But not Than Sadet... totally wrong spot.

The road(?) from Haad Tien to the main road is mad. Looks like straight up in places. That ridge behind the south east beaches at least is about 300m above sea level.

The 4wd trek from Haad Tien to Thong Sala cost 3000. Worth every satang that day. It was quite cool adventure in its own right. It was dark, too.

As I am one of those people who like hard to get to places, I can see your point. However, we do not have the cash flow to take the Bangkok Air flight anymore.

We would still have to get to Big Buddha pier, wait, take a boat, walk, take another boat to Haad Yuan or Than Sadet.

This time it was the long tail from Haad Yuan which was the problem.

[AngThong]

Yeah I guess the Had Yuan problem is their monopoly - if you could simply pick someone else when there's a problem, there wouldn't be problems. It's usually feasible to catch a longtail from Thien if you can afford to wait, though sometimes the wait can be long - especially if it's late. Then there's the slow boat from Maenam on Samui that calls at Yuan/Thien, Than Sadet and Thong Nai Pan, it's slow but cheap.

No doubt all those roads will be paved soonish, this decade more likely than not, and to paraphrase a famous utterance, every scooter-riding fool in Thong Sala can be on any KPG beach in half an hour. If I was a millionaire, I'd buy the entire Bottle beach valley and make sure there'll never be a concrete road there... You can always dream

Edited May 10, 2013 by AngThong

[EvilDrSomkid]

Even if the Haad Tien road becomes 100% paved, it will still be very dangerous.

It was past 5PM when we wanted to leave. Ended up leaving 6PM.

[AngThong]

I rarely visit but my pals who like the Eden parties usually stay at one of the resorts, precisely because it can be hard to get off the beach late at night.

[EvilDrSomkid]

I rarely visit but my pals who like the Eden parties usually stay at one of the resorts, precisely because it can be hard to get off the beach late at night.

Been staying at the Big Blue ever since I came the first time in 2004.

Excellent place.

[angiud]

I can confirm (today) works still stopped.

[Gatorade]

I can confirm (today) works still stopped.

I flew over it last week. What a mess! It's just above Than Sadet and during the wind conditions at certain times of the year will

be very exciting.(Dangerous).

I can't imagine that it will meet any supposed Dept of Aviation criteria required for a public airport i.e. emergency facilities etc and will only be useable for private or

Hotel aircraft, same as Koh Kood near Trat.

My guess (and only a guess) is that this very near to the so called future airstrip and is somehow connected to the ugly monstrosity of a Mansion fairly recently buit on the top of the hill overlooking Than Sadet and is located nearby which will enable the owner to access with his private aircraft.

Whatever it's going to be it sure looks awful from the air and has destroyed a lot of land. I wonder if it has encroached National Park land?

.

[EvilDrSomkid]

I can confirm (today) works still stopped.

I flew over it last week. What a mess! It's just above Than Sadet and during the wind conditions at certain times of the year will

be very exciting.(Dangerous).

I can't imagine that it will meet any supposed Dept of Aviation criteria required for a public airport i.e. emergency facilities etc and will only be useable for private or

Hotel aircraft, same as Koh Kood near Trat.

My guess (and only a guess) is that this very near to the so called future airstrip and is somehow connected to the ugly monstrosity of a Mansion fairly recently buit on the top of the hill overlooking Than Sadet and is located nearby which will enable the owner to access with his private aircraft.

Whatever it's going to be it sure looks awful from the air and has destroyed a lot of land. I wonder if it has encroached National Park land?

.

I might be going to Than Sadet in August. I will ask around or maybe check out the site then.

[angiud]

Today they were working, 2 makro operating, but my guess (and local Thai too) is that will necessary a couple of more years to be ready.

Koh Phangan airport

[GirlDrinkDrunk]

After having returned from KPN on Tuesday, I would say that my opinion on having an airport/airstrip on KPN has changed.

We did the Nok Air flight to Surat, then a combination of boats, buses, vans etc.

The way back was quite tricky. We were on Haad Yuan and the sea was rough. The longtail boss on that beach is a little crazy.

We ended up walking to Haad Tien and took a 4WD pick up from there to Thong Sala. Scariest drive I have ever been on.

i love that drive, the views are amazing and the drivers are good at it. it is especially pleasant when coming home from guys after an evening of music appreciation.

[angiud]

This is a pic of the project I've found on Facebook.

[sbk]

There was a report on it on Bangkok Post today, unfortunately they don't allow links so you will have to go there and check it out but suffice it to say it was the developer saying that he was excited its going to be finished next year but hes looking for investors......

[Jose]

There was a report on it on Bangkok Post today, unfortunately they don't allow links so you will have to go there and check it out but suffice it to say it was the developer saying that he was excited its going to be finished next year but hes looking for investors......

Apparently after spending 200 million baht of his own seed money, 46-year-old businessman Mr Somphong said he is prepared to offer a 30-40% stake in the Phangan airport project, whose ultimate cost was recently revised to 900 million baht.

Anyone got a spare 700 mill?

[Jose]

This is a pic of the project I've found on Facebook.

Airport.jpg

There's a 250m cliff right at the eastern end of the runway, and a forested drop at the other end. It's going to be exciting to watch the first landing attempts there.

My guess is that unless substantially more seed money arrives for this project, we're looking at the most expensive golf course ever built in LOS.

Or maybe if they could resurrect/divert the old beach water pipe project, KPG could have its own splash waterpark.

[Gatorade]

Maybe I'm not to clear on the TV rules but it seems inappropriate to delet Jose's post.

A statement has been made publicly that Kan air is going to develop (ruin) the Than Sadet area.

I think that we should be able to make comment when such issues are reported publicly in the media. A unilateral decision to withdraw

an interesting post just doesn't seem right to me. And it has been quoted elsewhere on Thai Visa news.

The CEO of Kan Air has made statements to the media that all the locals are in agreement with this development. He would, wouldn't he? I'm not so sure.It is an opinion

we might not share.

The Kan Air slogan is "flying with nature" A bit ironic seeing what they are doing in the national park.

They are going to have to be pretty quick to get ATR's operating in there seeing as they haven't got any, and they are very much in demand.

The worrying thing for me is the siting of this airport on the top of a hill. It will be daylight operations only and god forbid if there is an accident how the emergency services will cope if something goes wrong.

[angiud]

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[Jose]

The worrying thing for me is the siting of this airport on the top of a hill. It will be daylight operations only and god forbid if there is an accident how the emergency services will cope if something goes wrong.

No infrastructure for miles (no decent roads, no electric power, no water supply, no nearby boat pier to Samui, no real hospital in KPG), underfunded project - I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

[angiud]

I was around the airport area just a week ago. At the moment the location is reachable only by 4x4 car with some bottom clearance too. The road going there is narrow and beautiful, crossing one of the last patches left of the original rainforest. Of course, when more money will come (or the local government will allocate funds) the road will be improved, sadly destroying more forest...

Anyway the location is in one of the remotest parts of the island and a good 10 km from Thong Nai Pan and more from Thong Sala

[AngThong]

Build it, by all means, but build it in Ban Tai - Ban Kai. Flat, already wasted, good connections and no one will notice any noise, given the existing noise levels.

[Jose]

At the moment the location is reachable only by 4x4 car with some bottom clearance too.

Also relatively easy to reach by scooter, with care on the loose dirt and rocky road sections.

(Photo location)

Edited September 2, 2013 by Jose

[angiud]

A aerial picture of the location of the KPG airport:

Credit picture Jacques Richard

[sbk]

That cliff looks terrifying. Think I'd rather swim than fly into that airport in any kind gusty wind.

[Tropicalevo]

Maybe I'm not to clear on the TV rules but it seems inappropriate to delet Jose's post.

A statement has been made publicly that Kan air is going to develop (ruin) the Than Sadet area.

I think that we should be able to make comment when such issues are reported publicly in the media. A unilateral decision to withdraw

an interesting post just doesn't seem right to me. And it has been quoted elsewhere on Thai Visa news.

The CEO of Kan Air has made statements to the media that all the locals are in agreement with this development. He would, wouldn't he? I'm not so sure.It is an opinion

we might not share.

The Kan Air slogan is "flying with nature" A bit ironic seeing what they are doing in the national park.

They are going to have to be pretty quick to get ATR's operating in there seeing as they haven't got any, and they are very much in demand.

The worrying thing for me is the siting of this airport on the top of a hill. It will be daylight operations only and god forbid if there is an accident how the emergency services will cope if something goes wrong.

Spot on about your concerns Gatorade.

[Tropicalevo]

A aerial picture of the location of the KPG airport:

Airport.jpg

Credit picture Jacques Richard

OMG what are we doing to ourselves?

[Gatorade]

A aerial picture of the location of the KPG airport:

Airport.jpg

Credit picture Jacques Richard

OMG what are we doing to ourselves?

Incredible isn't it! Killing the Golden goose...as usual.

I wonder if the siting of this airstrip has something to do with the monstrosity of the v. large house overlooking Than Sadet, as it seems that there wil be

a taxi way to the front door.

I think that it's owned by a very Hi So.

[Jose]

I wonder if the siting of this airstrip has something to do with the monstrosity of the v. large house overlooking Than Sadet, as it seems that there wil be

a taxi way to the front door.

I think that it's owned by a very Hi So.

If you mean the two-story white house built on the rocks (see partial view below), it was built on the rocks by a nice local (Mr Thong? name escapes right now) years ago. He had no idea of the proposed project at the time, and no connection to the airstrip developer.

[Gatorade]

Thanks Jose that's good to know.

As you have your finger on the pulse do you know if an Environmental impact study was carried out for the "airport"?

Haven't heard of one and we were told that they were a legal requirement.

Even for a seaplane alighting area near a deserted beach with no infrastructure needed we were required to have an EIS and carried out by an accredited University. But we were Farang so perhaps different rules.

[Jose]

As you have your finger on the pulse do you know if an Environmental impact study was carried out for the "airport"?

Haven't heard of one and we were told that they were a legal requirement.

Even for a seaplane alighting area near a deserted beach with no infrastructure needed we were required to have an EIS and carried out by an accredited University. But we were Farang so perhaps different rules.

Yes, you've answered your own question, Gatorade. Environmental impact studies have never been a requirement in KPG, so why start now?

Environmental officers (if they exist in LOS) would have a field day with the tearing-down of forests and cementing of beaches in KPG.