Busy? I'll Show You Busy, Says Thai Airport Boss

[nullx8]

Wednesday September 27, 3:54 PM

Busy? I'll show you busy, says Thai airport boss

With the clock ticking down to the opening of Bangkok's $4 billion new airport, Chotisak Asapaviriya mopped his brow with a handkerchief before lighting a cigarette and ordering a large bottle of beer.

As head of Airports of Thailand and the man ultimately responsible for the move from the tired arrival halls of Bangkok's Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi, set to be Asia's largest airport, he could be forgiven for wanting some down time.

The move, which involves shifting 1.8 million pieces of equipment -- much of it the space of a few hours -- across the sprawling metropolis, is being billed as one of the largest logistical operations in aviation history.

"Busy? I'll show you busy," he told Reuters at a recent business lunch before removing six mobile phones from his pockets and lining them up on the table.

"This one is for my friends, this one for my staff, this one for my customers and this one for ministers. This one is the prime minister and this one my wife. If I don't answer the last one, that's when I get big trouble," he said.

Following last week's military coup, he no longer has to worry about calls from Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, now a virtual refugee in London, or his cabinet ministers, who have all been fired by the generals now in charge.

But the pressure from staff and customers -- the airlines which will be flying in to Don Muang on Wednesday evening and out of Suvarnabhumi on Thursday morning -- has been unrelenting.

With just weeks to go until the commercial opening of the $4 billion airport that will handle 45 million passengers a year, negotiations with the airlines on new landing charges were fractious and testy, to the point that both sides resorted to a slanging match through the media.

"He spent so long as part of the British Commonwealth, but he still can't spell the word gentleman," Chotisak said of Albert Tjoeng, the Singapore-based International Air Transport Association spokesman who argued for a delay of the opening.

But after 40 years on the drawing board and five years under construction, not to mention a "soft opening" a year ago, delays were not an option for Thaksin, a no-nonsense, self-styled CEO leader who prided himself on getting things done.

In July, he decreed the futuristic steel-and-glass structure built on "Cobra Swamp" east of the capital would open on September 28, exactly six years after it received its official name from revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Thaksin admitted Suvarnabhumi, which means "Golden Land" in Thai and touted as a rival to Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, could well run into some "inconveniences" in its early days.

But after months spent studying major airport openings such as Hong Kong and Denver, and the problems both had with their baggage handling systems, Chotisak said he was confident everything would be alright on the night.

If all else fails, 1,300 army cadets who have been charging round the giant terminal with armfuls of dummy luggage for the past few weeks would simply be called up to fill planes by hand, he said.

"We have a fallback plan for everything."

-=-=-=-=-=-

Great Solution !! ;-)

Source: reuters (just now)

[kayo]

good article. Funny too.

Must be stressful for the guy, though, I`ll give him that. BIG job.

What Opening of ANYTHING be it airports, fairgrounds, school plays, or whatever doensn`t have some intial probs anyway. that`s not gonna be a surprise, and will only fill up slow news days.

[sjaak327]

I guess currently most of his mobile phones must be ringing, I mean a few hours and it's show time..

[Nikkijah]

With just weeks to go until the commercial opening of the $4 billion airport that will handle 45 million passengers a year, negotiations with the airlines on new landing charges were fractious and testy, to the point that both sides resorted to a slanging match through the media.

So it's not just us moaning TV farts who are miffed at the new prices of airport facilities(internet!)...

[dai ru55]

Wednesday September 27, 3:54 PM

Busy? I'll show you busy, says Thai airport boss

With the clock ticking down to the opening of Bangkok's $4 billion new airport, Chotisak Asapaviriya mopped his brow with a handkerchief before lighting a cigarette and ordering a large bottle of beer.

As head of Airports of Thailand and the man ultimately responsible for the move from the tired arrival halls of Bangkok's Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi, set to be Asia's largest airport, he could be forgiven for wanting some down time.

The move, which involves shifting 1.8 million pieces of equipment -- much of it the space of a few hours -- across the sprawling metropolis, is being billed as one of the largest logistical operations in aviation history.

"Busy? I'll show you busy," he told Reuters at a recent business lunch before removing six mobile phones from his pockets and lining them up on the table.

"This one is for my friends, this one for my staff, this one for my customers and this one for ministers. This one is the prime minister and this one my wife. If I don't answer the last one, that's when I get big trouble," he said.

Following last week's military coup, he no longer has to worry about calls from Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, now a virtual refugee in London, or his cabinet ministers, who have all been fired by the generals now in charge.

But the pressure from staff and customers -- the airlines which will be flying in to Don Muang on Wednesday evening and out of Suvarnabhumi on Thursday morning -- has been unrelenting.

With just weeks to go until the commercial opening of the $4 billion airport that will handle 45 million passengers a year, negotiations with the airlines on new landing charges were fractious and testy, to the point that both sides resorted to a slanging match through the media.

"He spent so long as part of the British Commonwealth, but he still can't spell the word gentleman," Chotisak said of Albert Tjoeng, the Singapore-based International Air Transport Association spokesman who argued for a delay of the opening.

But after 40 years on the drawing board and five years under construction, not to mention a "soft opening" a year ago, delays were not an option for Thaksin, a no-nonsense, self-styled CEO leader who prided himself on getting things done.

In July, he decreed the futuristic steel-and-glass structure built on "Cobra Swamp" east of the capital would open on September 28, exactly six years after it received its official name from revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Thaksin admitted Suvarnabhumi, which means "Golden Land" in Thai and touted as a rival to Hong Kong, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, could well run into some "inconveniences" in its early days.

But after months spent studying major airport openings such as Hong Kong and Denver, and the problems both had with their baggage handling systems, Chotisak said he was confident everything would be alright on the night.

If all else fails, 1,300 army cadets who have been charging round the giant terminal with armfuls of dummy luggage for the past few weeks would simply be called up to fill planes by hand, he said.

"We have a fallback plan for everything."

-=-=-=-=-=-

Great Solution !! ;-)

Source: reuters (just now)

As soon as people have been through this awfull airport, they won't want to visit it again

[Soju]

As soon as people have been through this awfull airport, they won't want to visit it again

How can you call it an awful airport when it hasn't even officially opened yet? Have you even been there? If not, seems very strange to be calling it awful strictly based on reports about an unfinished airport. Give it a chance first. All new airports have problems with their initial opening and nobody expects Suvarnabhumi to be any different. I take it you would rather to still be using Don Muang? I don't think you'll find very many who'd agree with that. Certainly a lot of people will be complaining about the new airport, but I think after the initial opening the vast majority of passengers will prefer it overall to Don Muang. Certainly there will be some things that we thought were better at Don Muang, but I'm talking about overall experience.

Edit: I just saw your post on another thread about actually visiting Suvarnabhumi on Tuesday. You complained about duty free not being open, and the terrible traffic from the airport to your house. I don't accept your complaint about duty free not being open as a valid complaint. You arrived during the soft opening period and that is to be expected. Even from today I'm sure many places will still not be open, but certainly before long most places will be operating as normal. Opening an airport, or any large construction project of that size, with less than 100% of it's facilities ready is certainly a very common occurance. It shouldn't surprise any of us to see this. Disappointed, perhaps, but not surprised. Just realize that Suvarnabhumi is here for the long haul. I don't see it as being wise to take a bad experience at the opening and assume that it will always be like that and so refuse to ever return to the airport again. If you were to revisit the airport around the first of the year, I doubt you'd have anywhere near the same bad impression as when visiting during the soft opening.

With regard to the traffic issue, this is your personal issue with the airport and doesn't apply to everyone, because you evidently live very close to Don Muang, so naturally the new airport is further for you. For someone who lives close to Suvarnabhumi, the opposite would be the case. I don't know what the overall effect will be for the average passenger. I suspect it will add some time/cost, but probably not nearly to the same degree as in your case. But certainly a longer drive time to a new airport is the normal case as almost always a new airport is built further away from the city as the old one due to the nature of expanding cities and limited land nearby the city center. Nothing really different here from any other new airport at any of the world's major cities. We all like to complain about this situation, but there's really nothing we can do to build a new airport and avoid a longer drive time. That's really no reason to say the new airport isn't any good and we should go back to the old airport. Don Muang was busting at the seams. It couldn't handle any more traffic. It was pushed and extended way beyond what was intended and what anyone had dreamed. BKK badly needed a new and bigger airport and we finally got it. I think most of us are glad the new airport is here.

Edited September 28, 2006 by Soju

[a3]

Very good points Soju.

[pap]

Very good points Soju.

There is actually a pretty cool documentary on how the Hong Kong Airport and Japanese airports pulled this off.

Airports are airports. If the experience isn't miserable than from my point of view you gotta be happy.

[h90]

I would buy the mobile phone for the premier, he don't need it anymore....