Chiang Mai Expands Airport

[jaideeguy]

Expansion of the airport facilities and not the runways.............typical Thai logic to upgrade the commercial part of an airport that has limited runways and no direction to expand. What happened to the new airport that was to be constructed in Mae On??

http://www.aviationpros.com/news/11299031/the-northern-citys-airport-is-embarking-on-an-upgrade-to-cope-with-surging-traffic-demand-particularly-from-china-whose-citizens-have-been-flocking-to-the-northern-thai-city

[khwaibah]

Do to the fact that there is only a care taker government,where are they going to get the money?

[WinnieTheKhwai]

* There is NOTHING wrong with the runway in either length, layout or capacity. It is plenty long to handle all flights that can reasonably expected in Chiang Mai. And one runway is enough to handle a lot more flights than it handles right now. (You can check all of this on aviation sites.)

Compare:

- Chiang Mai Airport is expected to handle 6.2 million passengers the coming year (as per the linked article). Compare this to, say, London Gatwick (also a single-runway airport) which handles 34 million passengers. On a single runway.

- Many airports that have multiple runways are in areas where wind is a major factor, so they want to be able to let planes land and take off in different directiosn relative to the wind. This does not apply for Chiang Mai.

- Ultimately it's a regional airport, you're not going to get 777-300ERs flying direct to New York. So runway length is more than enough; Airbus flew the A380 to Chiang Mai a couple years ago. At maximum take-off weight it needs a runway of 2,800 meters. CNX runway length is 3,100 meters. Compare with Manchester Airports, which does actually handle much longer flights; it's runway length is less: 3,050 meters.

* Personally, I really appreciate having an airport that's not at a 45 minute drive away.

* And there is plenty of space for more gates and additional terminal space. Even without major reorganization.

* With major reorganization there is even more space; for example the cargo terminal can move. Even to the other side of the road, with a tunnel put in. Then you can build a whole nother terminal building, or extend the current one with lots more gates. (And travelators, please.)

* The final one is not very realistic but only for political reasons: If anything moves to Sankamphaeng / Mae On, why not the Wing 41 army base. Then the amount of space available is more than would be needed for a century at least. This of course won't happen, because the military tells the government what to do, not the other way around.

Edited January 24, 2014 by WinnieTheKhwai

[chiang mai]

+1

[khwaibah]

Lamphun has an airport. GPS 18.546886, 99.016658

[Bung]

Living on the flight path I would love for the commercial traffic to go out of town but keep the one in town for military traffic, watching the F16's take off yesterday was awesome and there is some interesting traffic coming and going. I saw an old Thai Air Force DC3 amble in the other day (unfortunately had been re powered so now radial engine sound...) that's just me though.....

[jaideeguy]

But, you have to admit that it is a bit unnerving to see the planes coming in for a landing at 200mtrs above the Big C Hang Dong. Could be a recipe for a disaster................not to mention the noise factor for all the residential areas in that neighborhood. Glad I don't live there!

[hml367]

Living on the flight path I would love for the commercial traffic to go out of town but keep the one in town for military traffic, watching the F16's take off yesterday was awesome and there is some interesting traffic coming and going. I saw an old Thai Air Force DC3 amble in the other day (unfortunately had been re powered so now radial engine sound...) that's just me though.....

Were you living under the flight path when the squadron at Wing 41 was Broncos? I believe designated OV-10 model.

Edited January 24, 2014 by hml367

[WinnieTheKhwai]

But, you have to admit that it is a bit unnerving to see the planes coming in for a landing at 200mtrs above the Big C Hang Dong. Could be a recipe for a disaster................not to mention the noise factor for all the residential areas in that neighborhood. Glad I don't live there!

It's not uncommon; there are far hairier airports in terms of avoiding buildings or terrain. The epic example was the old Hong Kong airport of course, but even so the approach is completely ordinary.

I can't edit my earlier post to add this information, but here is a map of how far you can go (direct out of Manchester) with a runway that's actually a little shorter than Chiang Mai's: http://www.manchesterairport.co.uk/manweb.nsf/Content/Destinations Being a regional airport and limited demand for direct long-haul flights, the furthest you'd expect would be Chiang Mai - Dubai, then connections to Europe. (Which would be really good actually, and perfectly possible with the current runway.) Although direct to Europe is easily possible, the limiting factor is commercial demand, not runway length or capacity.

Going the other way to North America the connection would be in Korea or Japan, and those flights already exist.

Now, it wouldn't surprise me at all if a new airport gets built, but I very much doubt it will be for sound reasons. When it does get built, it'll have a lot more to do with local interests, kick-backs and other political hocus-pocus than with a real need. This particular work for just 100 million baht is of course peanuts. (Equivalent to about five really fancy houses in a high end development)

Edited January 24, 2014 by WinnieTheKhwai

[brommers]

It is a pity that there is no mention of improvements to vehicular access, expending of car parking availability and the installation of traffic lights at the intersection with Mahidol. All of these are essential if the growth in passengers is to take place.

CNX is an excellent small airport and the upgrades can only add to the quality of service that is delivered. It is a pleasure to arrive back after a long haul flight through SUV and be through baggage reclaim and out to the car in little more than 10 minutes.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[WinnieTheKhwai]

http://youtu.be/U7ZneQnZOhM?t=42s (A380 landing at CNX)

(Of course, the bottleneck with those would be the gate and possibly terminal / luggage belt capacity. If that became a regular thing you'd need to build a dedicated two-level gate to board people in a reasonable amount of time.)

Edited January 24, 2014 by WinnieTheKhwai

[masuk]

you say 'now radial engine sound'. Isn't that what it always had?

It's the first aircraft I flew in, some 60years ago.

Living on the flight path I would love for the commercial traffic to go out of town but keep the one in town for military traffic, watching the F16's take off yesterday was awesome and there is some interesting traffic coming and going. I saw an old Thai Air Force DC3 amble in the other day (unfortunately had been re powered so now radial engine sound...) that's just me though.....

[CNXBKKMAN]

The DC3 you saw the other day had modern turboprop engines and is now called a BT67. The original DC3 had piston engines. It will be a sad day if a new out of town airport opens as the current location is so close and fast into the city. If a new airport is built it will be because of corruption and personal gain not for the benefit of Chiang Mai.

[Lockheed]

But, you have to admit that it is a bit unnerving to see the planes coming in for a landing at 200mtrs above the Big C Hang Dong. Could be a recipe for a disaster................not to mention the noise factor for all the residential areas in that neighborhood. Glad I don't live there!

I was in Big C and heard them roaring overhead so I went to the footbridge and was watching them come in at about 5.00 pm, one after the other, a local was up there with his kid and he knew the schedule, wouldn't it be a sight from that bridge if they brought a C5 Galaxy in, that hauling beast has the best sounding engines. I'd live there any day if thats all that was flying, in and out.

[Sparkles]

If the airport did move out of the city what a wonderful opportunity to create some green space at the old airport site ,to be the lungs of the city.A water theme park ,even a beach,outdoor concerts, a cycling track,sports fields, a sprinkling of small restaurants and cafes amongst tree lined boulevards.

Sorry.......I'm dreaming...... it would be more shopping malls ,shop houses and moo bans !

[WinnieTheKhwai]

If the airport did move out of the city what a wonderful opportunity to create some green space at the old airport site ,to be the lungs of the city.A water theme park ,even a beach,outdoor concerts, a cycling track,sports fields, a sprinkling of small restaurants and cafes amongst tree lined boulevards.

Sorry.......I'm dreaming...... it would be more shopping malls ,shop houses and moo bans !

No it won't. It's all airforce land.

Of course we can always dream.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

The DC3 you saw the other day had modern turboprop engines and is now called a BT67. The original DC3 had piston engines.

Still pretty.

[pete66]

A new airport would be built for "corruption" reasons and no others. TIT

[Torrens54]

* There is NOTHING wrong with the runway in either length, layout or capacity. It is plenty long to handle all flights that can reasonably expected in Chiang Mai. And one runway is enough to handle a lot more flights than it handles right now. (You can check all of this on aviation sites.)

Compare:

- Chiang Mai Airport is expected to handle 6.2 million passengers the coming year (as per the linked article). Compare this to, say, London Gatwick (also a single-runway airport) which handles 34 million passengers. On a single runway.

- Many airports that have multiple runways are in areas where wind is a major factor, so they want to be able to let planes land and take off in different directiosn relative to the wind. This does not apply for Chiang Mai.

- Ultimately it's a regional airport, you're not going to get 777-300ERs flying direct to New York. So runway length is more than enough; Airbus flew the A380 to Chiang Mai a couple years ago. At maximum take-off weight it needs a runway of 2,800 meters. CNX runway length is 3,100 meters. Compare with Manchester Airports, which does actually handle much longer flights; it's runway length is less: 3,050 meters.

* Personally, I really appreciate having an airport that's not at a 45 minute drive away.

* And there is plenty of space for more gates and additional terminal space. Even without major reorganization.

* With major reorganization there is even more space; for example the cargo terminal can move. Even to the other side of the road, with a tunnel put in. Then you can build a whole nother terminal building, or extend the current one with lots more gates. (And travelators, please.)

* The final one is not very realistic but only for political reasons: If anything moves to Sankamphaeng / Mae On, why not the Wing 41 army base. Then the amount of space available is more than would be needed for a century at least. This of course won't happen, because the military tells the government what to do, not the other way around.

Spot on WinnieTheKhwai,

I can't think of anything to add to what you have already said.

Cheers,

Torrens54

[wileycoyote]

A mistake not to increase and improve runways .Thailand needs a second major hub.

[hml367]

Is the old Chiang Rai airport still "undeveloped" ?

Aren't new commercial airports built away from built-up areas?

Was Chiang Mai airport away from densely populated areas when it was "built"?

[bubba]

See this aircraft? That's right, it landed in Chiang Mai. I was shocked to see it parked there as I was taxiing in on a flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in 1999. It also landed there during a one day round-the-world tour, arriving from Guam.

AFAIK, Concorde took a lot of runway...fully loaded, more than a 747-400, since its delta wing design produced little lift at low speeds and thus required a lot of air flowing over it to reach takeoff speed.

So CNX routinely lands 747-400s (although not fully loaded as that requires 10,000 feet at sea level and standard pressure), and has landed A380s and Concorde. But they need to extend the runway? Which Uncle Somchai will be getting that contract?

[MESmith]

But, you have to admit that it is a bit unnerving to see the planes coming in for a landing at 200mtrs above the Big C Hang Dong. Could be a recipe for a disaster................not to mention the noise factor for all the residential areas in that neighborhood. Glad I don't live there!

How many of those residential areas predate the airport?

[kjhbigv]

But, you have to admit that it is a bit unnerving to see the planes coming in for a landing at 200mtrs above the Big C Hang Dong. Could be a recipe for a disaster................not to mention the noise factor for all the residential areas in that neighborhood. Glad I don't live there!

I was in Big C and heard them roaring overhead so I went to the footbridge and was watching them come in at about 5.00 pm, one after the other, a local was up there with his kid and he knew the schedule, wouldn't it be a sight from that bridge if they brought a C5 Galaxy in, that hauling beast has the best sounding engines. I'd live there any day if thats all that was flying, in and out.

If you want live time aircraft arrivals and departures, aircraft details, destination and departure airport arrival, height, speed etc etc then, check out

http://www.flightradar24.com/

One of my favourite apps....god knows how it works, I think it is just magic and voodoo at work,

Really handy when picking someone up from the airport as well!

[kjhbigv]

See this aircraft? That's right, it landed in Chiang Mai. I was shocked to see it parked there as I was taxiing in on a flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai in 1999. It also landed there during a one day round-the-world tour, arriving from Guam.

AFAIK, Concorde took a lot of runway...fully loaded, more than a 747-400, since its delta wing design produced little lift at low speeds and thus required a lot of air flowing over it to reach takeoff speed.

So CNX routinely lands 747-400s (although not fully loaded as that requires 10,000 feet at sea level and standard pressure), and has landed A380s and Concorde. But they need to extend the runway? Which Uncle Somchai will be getting that contract?

I must admit I doubted that Concorde had landed in CM, but I stand corrected.....it was chartered in Oct 99 on a world tour for 3 weeks costing $60,000 per person in 1999! That would have been awesome standing on that footbridge on Hang Dong road as it came in to land!

http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1999-10-05/news/9910050025_1_air-france-british-airways-buenos-aires

I flew on it once, NYC - LHR, but got a bargain........it was after it crashed, but before withdrawal announcement! Travelling at 1300mph+....felt like it was stationary!

Edited January 24, 2014 by kjhbigv

[khrab]

I am travelling through CMX since years. Always domestic flights from BKK. Passing the international immigration facilities on the way to the bagagge claim, I never ever saw any (international) passengers nor staff. The counters were always closed.

[PJcm]

Living on the flight path I would love for the commercial traffic to go out of town but keep the one in town for military traffic, watching the F16's take off yesterday was awesome and there is some interesting traffic coming and going. I saw an old Thai Air Force DC3 amble in the other day (unfortunately had been re powered so now radial engine sound...) that's just me though.....

When the airport was built in the 50's your home was a rice field, no jet aircraft,you moved into the flight path with full knowledge. It's not the airport's fault that the city came to the flight path it was the silly buyers.

[brommers]

If you fly domestic then of course you will not see anyone at Immigration. Anyone in transit from an international flight to domestic in Bkk will do Immigration there but Customs here at CNX. If you fly any international flight into CNX you will go through Immigration and Customs here. It is as simple as that. Maybe khun khrab one day you will enjoy the experience of the charming and efficient Immigration and Customs staff here at CNX.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Sparkles]

If the airport did move out of the city what a wonderful opportunity to create some green space at the old airport site ,to be the lungs of the city.A water theme park ,even a beach,outdoor concerts, a cycling track,sports fields, a sprinkling of small restaurants and cafes amongst tree lined boulevards.

Sorry.......I'm dreaming...... it would be more shopping malls ,shop houses and moo bans !

No it won't. It's all airforce land.

Of course we can always dream.

Well aware of that but if the power brokers of Northern Thailand want it to happen, it will ,and to some extent,forgetting the corruption factor ,it makes sense.

To link a new airport with a light rail or similar to the city would partly help eliminate a growing traffic problem, which in CM is fast becoming the ultimate challenge, plus,more importantly, I wouldn't have aircraft flying over our house

[thai4me]

Each time I use the airport on arrival, I don't see huge crowds. Departure is the same. Do they have such numbers to necessitate expansions.

Thailand is not the only country in Asia that does things out of needs.

Politics has a heavy hand in it.

And it would be a bummer if they ever relocate it to somewhere far away. It is presently a 20 minutes drive from YangNoeng.

Edited January 24, 2014 by thai4me