Phase 2 Of Don Mueang Airport Face-Lift Expected To Complete In Mar 2014

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Phase 2 of Don Mueang Airport face-lift expected to complete in Mar 2014

Done Muenag. File photo, source: Wikipdia.org

BANGKOK, 16 April 2013 (NNT) – The Transport Ministry is expecting the second phase of the improvement of the Don Mueang Airport will soon begin to help it cope with a constant rise in the number of air travelers.

Permanent Secretary for Transport Pol. Gen. Wichean Potephosree, on Monday, visited Aeronautical Radio of Thailand at Don Mueang Airport to get first-hand information on the problem experienced at the capital’s secondary airport.

Pol. Gen. Wichean said he found air traffic has been expanding rapidly at Don Mueang and the air-traffic control system employed there is not a complete automatic system.

He reckoned that Aeronautical Radio of Thailand will completely switch to the automatic system by 2015.

The visit also led him to learn about many other problems, ranging from manpower issues to legal troubles.

Pol. Gen. Wichean stated that all problems will be solved through the collaboration with all related parties, including Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, Airports of Thailand and Thai Airways International, under the supervision of the Transport Ministry.

In addition, the Permanent Secretary for Transport said an increasing crowdedness at Don Mueang Airport, particularly during such long holidays as the Songkran festival, has made the second facelift of the airport an urgent matter.

The refurbishment of Bangkok’s secondary airport will begin this year and complete in March 2014, said Pol. Gen. Wichean.

Don Mueang has handled 6 million passengers during October 2012 and February 2013 while Airports of Thailand foresees 10 million more will travel through this airport before the end of this October.


-- NNT 2013-04-16

[Nowhereman60]

I hope they add additional parking. It can't handle what it has now.

[rheinwiese]

As in the old Don Muang days, all car parks are usually occupied by airport employees.

[Locationthailand]

Not much point in doing a "face lift" - it needs some serious construction and expansion if it is going to continue to be another inbound point for Thailand and needs to include all the support facilities including perhaps a skytrain link to the city and/o Swampy for DM domestic to connect to international outbound.

[bri1guy]

what about a train or sky train between the two airports???

[IsaanUSA]

what about a train or sky train between the two airports???

Do a search, they are already working on it. Somebody asks this every week.

[IsaanUSA]

what about a train or sky train between the two airports???

Here you go : http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/615917-red-line-deal-inked;-some-hopewell-pillars-to-stay-bangkok/

[Mosha]

This could be the biggest waste of cash ever. Which major airlines are interested? Don't say the One World group.

[IsaanUSA]

This could be the biggest waste of cash ever. Which major airlines are interested? Don't say the One World group.

Airlines? The Transportation Ministry wants to remodel and upgrade certain areas of the airport to prepare for an influx in passengers. I suppose that could attract more airlines to do business there, but it doesn't talk about that in the article.

I don't know if you have used DMK since October, but it is not the most efficient design for passenger flow. I don't remember it being that bad back in the day, but back in the day I only used the international terminals for returning back to the USA and those flights were at 6am (so no passenger flow problems).

[bristolgeoff]

i think if they do a fix up for the over spill and use it can be a good idea.use both for both some international and domestic

[Tomtomtom69]

Not much point in doing a "face lift" - it needs some serious construction and expansion if it is going to continue to be another inbound point for Thailand and needs to include all the support facilities including perhaps a skytrain link to the city and/o Swampy for DM domestic to connect to international outbound.

Absolutely.

But instead of reviving the old Don Muang airport to try and compete with Suvarnabhumi, how about something a bit "radical" by Thai standards? How about ending the primate city dominance and offering more flights directly to Phuket, Chiang Mai and U-Tapao? There are millions of passengers that would prefer to travel directly to these cities rather than be forced by Air Asia (which dominates traffic at Don Muang) and THAI Airways International (which accounts for a significant share of traffic at Suvarnabhumi) to always land at Bangkok first before going onto other destinations.

Case in point: years ago THAI used to offer services between Chiang Mai and Chittagong, Bangladesh and Chiang Mai and Kunming. Cancelling the latter was a big mistake as nowadays huge numbers of Chinese from Kunming descend on Thailand, often to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, both cities served directly via China Eastern but THAI forces everyone to first travel to Bangkok. Why? Many travellers would much rather head directly to places like Phuket, Pattaya and Chiang Mai, which offer pretty much everything that Bangkok does but with the addition of beaches or mountains (in the case of Chiang Mai).

Imagine if all (or nearly all) US bound traffic was forced to land first in Los Angeles. That's the insanity of the primate city policy that has been going on here in Thailand. Some level of congestion could be eased if there were more flights going directly to these other destinations. THAI for example offers a seasonal Phuket-Perth service. Apart from offering year-round service, which would make lots of sense, why don't they offer a Sydney-Phuket and Melbourne-Phuket service? Those routes would be even more profitable than the Perth route because they have far larger populations and more Thai residents too. Not to mention a Frankfurt-Phuket, Guangzhou-Phuket, Shanghai-Phuket or Frankfurt-Chiang Mai service? I'm certain that these routes would be quite full as all the beach bums and beer bar guys could be sitting on their bar stools much more quickly than being forced to first head to Bangkok, somewhere that half of them aren't even interested in going to in the first place.

Another "radical" proposal: How about making a start on the 3rd and 4th runways at Suvarnabhumi? I thought that was part of the masterplan? But after more than 6 years of being open...nothing. What kind of a major airport only has 2 runways anyway? Practically every airport in the states has at least 3 or 4 runways, many even have 7 or 8 (such as Chicago O'Hare or New York JFK).

Edited April 21, 2013 by Tomtomtom69

[pfunk]

Hi Tom

But instead of reviving the old Don Muang airport to try and compete with Suvarnabhumi, how about something a bit "radical" by Thai standards? How about ending the primate city dominance and offering more flights directly to Phuket, Chiang Mai and U-Tapao?

For the sake of customer-service, it would be great but it's unlikely to happen. Those travelling to Phuket, Chiang Mai and U-Tapao are low yielding tourists. It makes more sense for Thai to route them through BKK since increasing volume/demand on those flights will increase yields meaning that they will make more per seat. If Chiang Mai had a massive diamond mine or U-Tapao was the centre of Thailand's oil industry, it would be a different story, but those travelling from places like Chittagong or Kunming are likely to be price sensative and willing to make a pit-stop at BKK. It's the same reason why British Airways cancelled all flights from Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh to places around Europe and the US and now routes all traffic through London's two airports.

Air Asia is much more likely to offer this type of service and is already beginning to - especially from its mini-hubs in Chiang Mai and Phuket. This is because Air Asia operates on a very different yield-management model that is pure volume and not dependent on business traffic. Over time, you may see Thai Airways affected by this since those passengers you're talking about may choose Air Asia over Thai but that competition is not substantial enough for them to worry about just yet - and those aren't the passengers they're really after anyway.

Your point about expansion of Suvarnabhumi is completely correct. If they don't start working on at least a third runway soon, they'll be in trouble. Heathrow is the busiest two-runway airport in the world with 70 million passengers per year. They are limited by NIMBYism and a lack of political will power in building new runways. I think Jakarta is the only other airport that serves more passengers than BKK with two runways. BKK already has theirs marked out in the dirt and it would much easier to build them than having to deal with London's political and practical problems. They should get on it soon since Don Muang is just a short term solution to the overcrowding.

The future lies at Suvarnabhumi. With all the talk of terminal expansion, I haven't seen any mention yet of additional runways which is indeed worrying.

[IsaanUSA]

But instead of reviving the old Don Muang airport to try and compete with Suvarnabhumi, how about something a bit "radical" by Thai standards? How about ending the primate city dominance and offering more flights directly to Phuket, Chiang Mai and U-Tapao? There are millions of passengers that would prefer to travel directly to these cities rather than be forced by Air Asia (which dominates traffic at Don Muang) and THAI Airways International (which accounts for a significant share of traffic at Suvarnabhumi) to always land at Bangkok first before going onto other destinations.

They already do this, but there should be more. When Suvarnabhumi was first built, I flew to Thailand via Chiang Mai to avoid all of the negative points outlined on ThaiVisa (King Power, toilets, baggage, general unpleasantness).

I can fly from Chicago to Chiang Mai with only one stop in Seoul with Korean Air. I just checked on their website. No need to transit through Bangkok.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai_International_Airport

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phuket_International_Airport

Anyways, I agree that it would be nice if more international airlines flew into Chiang Mai and Phuket (not so much U-Tapao since a new terminal would be desperately needed)

Edited April 22, 2013 by IsaanUSA

[Keith67]

But instead of reviving the old Don Muang airport to try and compete with Suvarnabhumi, how about something a bit "radical" by Thai standards? How about ending the primate city dominance and offering more flights directly to Phuket, Chiang Mai and U-Tapao? There are millions of passengers that would prefer to travel directly to these cities rather than be forced by Air Asia (which dominates traffic at Don Muang) and THAI Airways International (which accounts for a significant share of traffic at Suvarnabhumi) to always land at Bangkok first before going onto other destinations.

They already do this, but there should be more. When Suvarnabhumi was first built, I flew to Thailand via Chiang Mai to avoid all of the negative points outlined on ThaiVisa (King Power, toilets, baggage, general unpleasantness).

I can fly from Chicago to Chiang Mai with only one stop in Seoul with Korean Air. I just checked on their website. No need to transit through Bangkok.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiang_Mai_International_Airport

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phuket_International_Airport

Anyways, I agree that it would be nice if more international airlines flew into Chiang Mai and Phuket (not so much U-Tapao since a new terminal would be desperately needed)

Part of the problem with this is the introduction of the A380, many airlines have replaced some smaller aircraft with these and they are only able to land at certain major airports. A full A380 to Bangkok with tourists and transit passengers or a half full flight to Chiang Mai, Phuket or Pattaya with only tourists for that specific area.

[3SoiDogNight]

They're not gonna take away the roasted duck vendor are they?

That is one of the highlights near the observation deck at Don Mueang.