Passenger terminal in Ubon Ratchathani Airport reopens




BANGKOK, 13 September 2015 (NNT) – Transport Minister Akom Termpitayapaisit has chaired the re-inauguration of the passenger terminal at Ubon Ratchathani Airport.

The passenger terminal was damaged by a fire in October last year. No one was injured in the incident and the airport has continued to operate. The renovations cost 69 million baht and took 150 days.

The newly-built passenger terminal is equipped with a high-tech fire-prevention system. It can serve more than 900 passengers per hour. The airport houses five airline offices and deals with more than 30 flights per day.

Mr. Akom said the Ministry of Transport plans to develop Ubon Ratchathani Airport into the aviation hub of the lower Northeast in preparation for the arrival of ASEAN Economic Community.

-- NNT 2015-09-14

Ubon Rat couldn't attract any overseas carriers, even though it's called an "International " airport. One runway and no taxiway, so need to do a U-turn after landing. Big planes, no way.

Mukdahan new airport opening next year.

Is it cruel to laugh at this nonsensical statement? The newly-built passenger terminal is equipped with a high-tech fire-prevention system

No specific details are given. Deficiencies noted at the time were;

- No operational fire alarm system

- No operational heat and smoke detectors

- Inadequate fire fighting equipment. (The airport only had 2 fire trucks).

What exactly has the Royal Thai Air Force done to upgrade this airport? After all, it turned out that 29 airports in Thailand had similar deficiencies. Is it any wonder that Thailand ended up on the ICAO watch list?

It is rather telling that an electrical fire in the OTOP shop caused so much damage. Luckily, it was a store fire and not an airplane that had a fire as the inadequate fire equipment would have meant some pax would have most likely perished in a fire.