Suvarnabhumi Airport Expansion

[webfact]

Suvarnabhumi Airport Expansion

By English News

BANGKOK: -- When Suvarnabhumi Airport opened six years ago, it was heralded as a futuristic model for the region. Today, passenger volume has soared far beyond the airport's capacity of 45 million travellers annually. To ensure that the airport is not extremely congested, the second phase of the airport will be further constructed following delays.

“Political instabilities as well as other issues are part of the reason as to why the second phase of Suvarnabhumi airport has been delayed. It’s 2013 and we have not started the construction of the new phase, so there must be other plans to properly cater to the needs of these travellers, which are continuously increasing,” said Sita Divari, board chairman of Airports of Thailand (AoT).

The country's main international airport has the capacity of accommodating 45 million passengers per year. Now it is handling over 51 million passengers.

“The second phase can accommodate an additional 15 million passengers -- making it 60 million passengers in total per year. In the third phase, the numbers will increase, but that’s a future matter as an EIA will have to be conducted before any other process takes place,” the AOT board chairman said.

Despite certain delays, the Airports of Thailand is confident that the second phase of the airport in suburban Samut Prakan will be up and ready for service by 2017.

Additional development plans for improving connections with five other nearby provinces will also be made to assist commuters in areas close to the capital. These provinces are in a strategic design, including Samut Prakan, Nakhon Nayok, Chacheongsao, Prachinburi and Sa Kaeo bordering Cambodia.

An underlining feature of economic growth, future development plans, and connectivity is to ensure that travellers commuting will be able to travel easily. More importantly, alongside convenience, it is equally important that travellers will be able to travel from Don Mueang Airport to Suvarnabhumi without much hassle.

“We have drafted plans to build a train system connecting from Don Mueang Airport to Makkasan’s Airport Link Station -- which connects to Suvarnabhumi Airport. Makkasan will act as a main hub connecting to both airports,” Mr Sita said.

In a few years, with hopes of better connectivity, travellers will be able to experience a full-swing transportation system in place. And without doubt, these plans will become a source of hope amid heavily congested traffic in Thailand’s bustling capital. (MCOT online news)

-- TNA 2013-04-12

[aguy30]

The number of passengers is already at 51 million. This project is planned to be completed in 2017 but in Thai time probably even later. Even in 2017 the number of passengers will be about 60 million if growth continues at the same rate and at the new capacity of this phase. Then what? They are already behind the curve.

Why is Thailand so bad at planning? Always playing catch-up! Overall plans are NEVER EVER coordinated and integrated between projects. BTS, MRT and Airport Link lack of integration are good examples.

My suggestion to "kill" the rice scam and use that money to build a larger and proper size expansion at Suvarnabhumi, starting now. Let's not forget the infrastructure of roads, mass transit, railways and airport links, before the critical point and completion of the next airport project. The present inadequate airport link was years behind the airport completion and it still doesn't reach Don Muang airport.

[Hermeric]

to aguy30

"My suggestion to "kill" the rice scam and use that money to build a larger and proper size expansion at Suvarnabhumi, starting now. "

Yes! to hell with those farmers, as long as i don t have to wait at the airport

PS: i hope you apply to yourself what your avatar is saying

Edited April 12, 2013 by Hermeric

[Payboy]

When Suvarnabhumi Airport opened six years ago, it was heralded as a futuristic model for the region.

The region of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Burma, alright then.

[Markaew]

When Suvarnabhumi Airport opened six years ago, it was heralded as a futuristic model for the region.

The region of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Burma, alright then.

That does qualify for "the region". They would like for it to sound larger.

[aguy30]

I suggest that Thailand should hire the designers/consultants that are involved with Changi airport in Singapore. They seem to have the competence that appears to be lacking in Thailand.

Changi Airport received 51.2 million passengers in 2012. The three passenger terminals of the airport have a combined annual handling capacity of 67 million passengers. Suvarnabhumi is currently at 113% capacity while Changi is at 77% capacity. Singapore is staying ahead of the demand and they are now building terminal 4 to open in 2017.

[HUAHIN62]

TS was instrumental in getting phase 1 done before schedule and planning for phase 2 was already done in his time. The coup brought everything to a stand still and with the lame Dems in power nothing happened. I don't like TS but atleast things got done.

[joy16]

TS was instrumental in getting phase 1 done before schedule and planning for phase 2 was already done in his time. The coup brought everything to a stand still and with the lame Dems in power nothing happened. I don't like TS but atleast things got done.

The original plan for phase 1 of Suvarnabhumi Airport was the capacity of 60 million passengers, if TS didn't eliminate it and chose to construct only 45 million passengers in capacity for PR purpose.

[jackhardoon]

The aot never had an eia nor hia made before the construction. they rushed through the construction to be within the reign of a certain prime minister so he can take the accomplishment or the 30 % as the rumor abound

Remedy to all this dilemma of bad planning and taking advantage of people of BANG PLEE district is

To pay off the initial home owner that is affected by the airport suvanaphum being built with no planning on the effects to its neighbors would help , since this has already gone on for over 7 years and is in the highest court the administrative so any one who needs to join please contact Srisuwan Janya the attorney

The airport cannot operate with lack of equipment to check for noise and pollution like other airport of this region has been doing correctly the aot has been lying to the Thai people They must do the right thing for a country that has politician controlling a government monopoly they are liable

[whybother]

to aguy30

"My suggestion to "kill" the rice scam and use that money to build a larger and proper size expansion at Suvarnabhumi, starting now. "

Yes! to hell with those farmers, as long as i don t have to wait at the airport

PS: i hope you apply to yourself what your avatar is saying

Don't you mean "to hell with those millers"? They're the ones making all the money from the rice scam, not the farmers.

[Signature2013]

Normal Thai People are quite narrow minded; rather like Americans relatively few have passports and again like Americans their view of the world outside their own country is blinkered.

Television footage of the airport mainly shows foreigners; they don't equate a bigger airport with more visitors and more income...their thinking doesn't extend this far; the airport doesn't appear to benefit Khun Nok and his family. The airport extension is further down the list of important Thai items than we think. It will become more important when somebody (e.g. The Japanese, like last time) offer to pay for it. Most Ordinary Thai people do not listen to the "pay back with interst" any loan clause.

Try putting some money in a Thai persons hand and negotiating it back!!

[tullynagardy]

Alot of the usual Thai bashing here.

Lets remember theres another airport in Bangkok, running at about 20% of capacity, which will take much of the burden in coming years.

[mrfill]

Alot of the usual Thai bashing here.

Lets remember theres another airport in Bangkok, running at about 20% of capacity, which will take much of the burden in coming years.

It used to take 100% but was replaced and demoted to be a domestic airport. It was only the crisis a couple of years ago causd by the massive undercapacity of the new airport, that led to a hurried decision to re-establish Dom Muang as an international airport for cheapo airlines.

DM is now very dated and has poor accessibility. Anyone arriving at Suvarnabhumi with the idea of changing flights may now find they have to play Find the Airport. Yes, there are shuttle buses (very poorly advertised) and yes you can connect using trains (Airport link / BTS / regular train from Hua Lumpong), although its quite a challenge, and yes you can take a taxi but this is 2013 and the expectations of travellers is higher. It is especially galling when on the train from Hua Lumpong to see the concrete supports all nicely in place for the trains that never happened.

Planning to meet the capacity in 2017 will mean that by 2018 it will be over-loaded again and another panic will occur.

There are some wonderful examples of new, well planned airports in the region - Changi, Incheon and Hong Kong - yet the Thais have taken an approach nearer to the London example. Build to allow for 70-75 million passengers now - its not like there isnt enough space.

[whybother]

Alot of the usual Thai bashing here.

Lets remember theres another airport in Bangkok, running at about 20% of capacity, which will take much of the burden in coming years.

With the amount of money required for it to be able to run at a much higher capacity, it would make more sense to spend it on the main airport.

[tullynagardy]

I wont deny there has been some bad planning but disagree Don Maung has poor accessability. It has its own train station and great access to the motorway system - What more do you want!? As for being dated its all being refurbished bit by bit so i think still fit for purpose.

Bangkok is far too big to have just one airport.

[whybother]

I wont deny there has been some bad planning but disagree Don Maung has poor accessability. It has its own train station and great access to the motorway system - What more do you want!? As for being dated its all being refurbished bit by bit so i think still fit for purpose.

Bangkok is far too big to have just one airport.

How often do the trains run past Don Mueang? Until there is a direct train link between the two airports, I don't think it's viable to have too many flights out of there.

There was an article in the last week or so saying that Don Mueang wasn't up to standard for business travellers. If they only refurbish it bit by bit, it's not going to be suitable for quite a while.

[tullynagardy]

I wont deny there has been some bad planning but disagree Don Maung has poor accessability. It has its own train station and great access to the motorway system - What more do you want!? As for being dated its all being refurbished bit by bit so i think still fit for purpose.

Bangkok is far too big to have just one airport.

How often do the trains run past Don Mueang? Until there is a direct train link between the two airports, I don't think it's viable to have too many flights out of there.

There was an article in the last week or so saying that Don Mueang wasn't up to standard for business travellers. If they only refurbish it bit by bit, it's not going to be suitable for quite a while.

Does Gatwick and Heathrow have a rail connection? JFK and Newark? Orly and CDG? I think you get my point, so why does Bangkok need one before its viable to have more flights? Terminal 2 will soon reopen and passengers will hit 20 million in just a few years.

A rail connection between the 2 will be nice and maybe one day will come but as they oeprate completely different types of airlines I dont see why its massively necessary.

[Mudcrab]

The number of passengers is already at 51 million. This project is planned to be completed in 2017 but in Thai time probably even later. Even in 2017 the number of passengers will be about 60 million if growth continues at the same rate and at the new capacity of this phase. Then what? They are already behind the curve.

Why is Thailand so bad at planning? Always playing catch-up! Overall plans are NEVER EVER coordinated and integrated between projects. BTS, MRT and Airport Link lack of integration are good examples.

My suggestion to "kill" the rice scam and use that money to build a larger and proper size expansion at Suvarnabhumi, starting now. Let's not forget the infrastructure of roads, mass transit, railways and airport links, before the critical point and completion of the next airport project. The present inadequate airport link was years behind the airport completion and it still doesn't reach Don Muang airport.

Suggestion noted

[Mudcrab]

I suggest that Thailand should hire the designers/consultants that are involved with Changi airport in Singapore. They seem to have the competence that appears to be lacking in Thailand.

Changi Airport received 51.2 million passengers in 2012. The three passenger terminals of the airport have a combined annual handling capacity of 67 million passengers. Suvarnabhumi is currently at 113% capacity while Changi is at 77% capacity. Singapore is staying ahead of the demand and they are now building terminal 4 to open in 2017.

Build it and they will come....some whingeing and whining agreed

[Mudcrab]

I wont deny there has been some bad planning but disagree Don Maung has poor accessability. It has its own train station and great access to the motorway system - What more do you want!? As for being dated its all being refurbished bit by bit so i think still fit for purpose.

Bangkok is far too big to have just one airport.

How often do the trains run past Don Mueang? Until there is a direct train link between the two airports, I don't think it's viable to have too many flights out of there.

There was an article in the last week or so saying that Don Mueang wasn't up to standard for business travellers. If they only refurbish it bit by bit, it's not going to be suitable for quite a while.

why bother indeed..transit via Changi or some other convenient airport. Surely you don't have to stopover at BKK

[Ricardo]

TS was instrumental in getting phase 1 done before schedule and planning for phase 2 was already done in his time. The coup brought everything to a stand still and with the lame Dems in power nothing happened. I don't like TS but atleast things got done.

"done before schedule" is IMO incorrect.

IIRC Swampy was actually well-late in opening, and not fully-completed, at that ? Remember the for-face show-flight by Thai Airways with a load of poo-yais, into an airport which had runways, but the terminal-facilities weren't nearly ready, was that about a year prior to the actual opening ?

And the Dems have only been in power for about a third of the time since then.

I'd say the constant promises of further development, but failure to actually deliver, is more a national trait or the AOT's responsibility, than the fault of any one political-party.

This is a pity, because Swampy did have the potential, to become at least a leading-hub in Asia, if not the hub of Asian aviation which had been promised.

One hopes against hope, that there will be no further slippage, between the grand promises and their actual delivery.

[lapd]

I don't see that link between Makkasan and Don Mueng happening any time soon if at all. If anything it should be a loop to connect the 2 airports as well.

[Lakegeneve]

I wont deny there has been some bad planning but disagree Don Maung has poor accessability. It has its own train station and great access to the motorway system - What more do you want!? As for being dated its all being refurbished bit by bit so i think still fit for purpose.

Bangkok is far too big to have just one airport.

How often do the trains run past Don Mueang? Until there is a direct train link between the two airports, I don't think it's viable to have too many flights out of there.

There was an article in the last week or so saying that Don Mueang wasn't up to standard for business travellers. If they only refurbish it bit by bit, it's not going to be suitable for quite a while.

Does Gatwick and Heathrow have a rail connection? JFK and Newark? Orly and CDG? I think you get my point, so why does Bangkok need one before its viable to have more flights? Terminal 2 will soon reopen and passengers will hit 20 million in just a few years.

A rail connection between the 2 will be nice and maybe one day will come but as they oeprate completely different types of airlines I dont see why its massively necessary.

The ARL which opened in 2010 (2 years late) was always planned to be extended to DMK.

Since this govts 2 Airport Policy was introduced a year ago, the planned ext of the ARL has been advanced by 2-3 years. Thus, it is expected that the tender will go out mid to 3rd quarter this year and work commence soon thereafter (It has been designed for a while now though some tinkering needs to be done). If all goes well - and one should note that in BKK not one single new line nor metro ext has opened on time - then it should be completed by 2017/18. Still a few years prior to what was originally planned.

Until then the shuttle bus between the airport offer a fairly good free service for anyone wishing to use public transport. Travel times are consistently 45-60 mins based on pax reports. There are also shuttles to the BTS for those wishing to use the ARL, ie. DMK-bus-BTS-ARL-BKK.

PS. The irony regarding the 'accessibility debate' is that for decades people used DMK and spoke of the good access it had to BKK given all of the options available. Prior, to BKK opening people expressed concern that it was so far away compared with DMK and that there would be accessibility problems. Now, it is seemingly the reverse for some.

It is all a matter of perspective. And perhaps some short memories.....

[lomatopo]

There is some detail here: http://www.suvarnabhumiairport.com/business_phase2_en.php

Increased capacity comes from the new/planned mid-field satellite 1 concourse which looks to have ~ 30 fixed gates. There are lots of remote stands already. Maybe best to just build satellite 2 (further to the south) at the same time? Not sure at what point two runways, with limited take-offs/landings starts to become the short-straw? They have, at most currently, dual operation (take-offs and landings) on one runway, and single operation on the parallel runway, at any one time. During dry season not so much an issue, but during rainy season things can get stretched out a bit.

I think there were some issues with one of the runways at DMK, which might require a significant repair. Does anyone know if they are using both runways at DMK currently? And i think the runways at DMK are too close together for simultaneous, dual operation?

[Chicog]

Oh crap, I hate that design. Like another Dubai, half hour bloody walk when you get off the plane.

[josephbloggs]

There is some detail here: http://www.suvarnabhumiairport.com/business_phase2_en.php

Increased capacity comes from the new/planned mid-field satellite 1 concourse which looks to have ~ 30 fixed gates. There are lots of remote stands already. Maybe best to just build satellite 2 (further to the south) at the same time? Not sure at what point two runways, with limited take-offs/landings starts to become the short-straw? They have, at most currently, dual operation (take-offs and landings) on one runway, and single operation on the parallel runway, at any one time. During dry season not so much an issue, but during rainy season things can get stretched out a bit.

I think there were some issues with one of the runways at DMK, which might require a significant repair. Does anyone know if they are using both runways at DMK currently? And i think the runways at DMK are too close together for simultaneous, dual operation?

HI Lomatopo,

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately two of your links (satellite 1 and satellite 2) take you to eBay. Don't worry, I haven't bid against you.

[lomatopo]

There is some detail here: http://www.suvarnabhumiairport.com/business_phase2_en.php

Increased capacity comes from the new/planned mid-field satellite 1 concourse which looks to have ~ 30 fixed gates. There are lots of remote stands already. Maybe best to just build satellite 2 (further to the south) at the same time? Not sure at what point two runways, with limited take-offs/landings starts to become the short-straw? They have, at most currently, dual operation (take-offs and landings) on one runway, and single operation on the parallel runway, at any one time. During dry season not so much an issue, but during rainy season things can get stretched out a bit.

I think there were some issues with one of the runways at DMK, which might require a significant repair. Does anyone know if they are using both runways at DMK currently? And i think the runways at DMK are too close together for simultaneous, dual operation?

HI Lomatopo,

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately two of your links (satellite 1 and satellite 2) take you to eBay. Don't worry, I haven't bid against you.

Not sure what you're on about? I only pasted one, single link which should take you to www dot suvarnabhumiairport dot com.

I did embed/upload two pictures (if logged in, you should see thumbnails), so maybe there is some problem with your PC, browser, internet, etc.?

edited to add: ThaiVisa does seem to have some sort of new, automated 'process' which seems to add hot-links for certain words and phrases, so maybe that is what it throwing you off?

Edited May 6, 2013 by lomatopo

[josephbloggs]

There is some detail here: http://www.suvarnabhumiairport.com/business_phase2_en.php

Increased capacity comes from the new/planned mid-field satellite 1 concourse which looks to have ~ 30 fixed gates. There are lots of remote stands already. Maybe best to just build satellite 2 (further to the south) at the same time? Not sure at what point two runways, with limited take-offs/landings starts to become the short-straw? They have, at most currently, dual operation (take-offs and landings) on one runway, and single operation on the parallel runway, at any one time. During dry season not so much an issue, but during rainy season things can get stretched out a bit.

I think there were some issues with one of the runways at DMK, which might require a significant repair. Does anyone know if they are using both runways at DMK currently? And i think the runways at DMK are too close together for simultaneous, dual operation?

HI Lomatopo,

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately two of your links (satellite 1 and satellite 2) take you to eBay. Don't worry, I haven't bid against you.

Not sure what you're on about? I only pasted one, single link which should take you to www dot suvarnabhumiairport dot com.

I did embed/upload two pictures (if logged in, you should see thumbnails), so maybe there is some problem with your PC, browser, internet, etc.?

edited to add: ThaiVisa does seem to have some sort of new, automated 'process' which seems to add hot-links for certain words and phrases, so maybe that is what it throwing you off?

Hmmmmm, how strange. In your post both the mentions of the word "satellite" are hyperlinks. Both take you to different sales items on eBay which are vaguely satellite related. (Satellite speaker stands and something else, although yesterday they were model spaceships). I'm using Safari. If I use Chrome they aren't presented as hyperlinks.

Either a strange new TV thing or a strange new Safari thing....

[lomatopo]

Either a strange new TV thing or a strange new Safari thing....

VigLink.

Assume this is a ThaiVisa thing?

[melrocks50]

New Satellite Terminal at Suvarnabhumi.