Koh Phangan airport could open to next year to cater to full moon party revelers

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Koh Phangan airport could open to next year to cater to full moon party revelers

By Coconuts Bangkok 

 

Photo: Roslyn/Flickr

 

KOH PHANGAN: -- If everything goes according to plan (which it probably won’t), the Koh Phangan airport could be open by the end of 2017, after being pushed back from a 2014 projected opening.

 

The airport has been in some stage of construction for several years. But no buildings have yet been built. The 200 rai of land was purchased for THB500 million and some land grading has already been done.

 

Kannithi Aviation, which runs the project and operates carrier Kan Air, is trying to get loans from foreign companies to finish the project

 

Full story: http://bangkok.coconuts.co/2016/09/06/koh-phangan-airport-could-open-next-year-cater-full-moon-party-revelers

 

-- © Copyright Coconuts Bangkok 2016-09-06

[samuijimmy]

Probably won't is probably correct...

Why would they need to attract foreign investment and not local money ??? 

[Fookhaht]

Can't wait to see how the airline company decks out their aircraft to serve this route.  Something akin to the "disco buses" that ply the Thai highways?  

 

Just add wings....

 

Design suggestion.  Aircraft interior....

Edited September 6, 2016 by Fookhaht

[Brer Fox]

They will need to be quite spartan aircraft. Ones which can be hosed out after the passengers have staggered off the plane.

[ksamuiguy]

In your dreams!

Any one look up ICOA regulations on airports!

 

[tomacht8]

Beside that many from the islanders do not want an airport, this chimera will never be profitable with a 1100 meter runway. The Cessna Grand Caravan with 12 Seats could land/start, but with their ATR72-500 is already critical, without safety margins.
For comparison: Koh Samui runway is 2,060 meters.

They plan with 1000 passengers per day. Where are the passengers come from?
Price aggressive competition there is in Surat Thani and in Nakhon Si Thammarat enough with Thai, Nok, Smile, Air Asia, Lion Air. Even Bangkok Airways on Koh Samui had to slash the number of its flights.
 

The land bought for 500 million baht from a mini airline with 3 small aircrafts?
Where does the money come from?
 

[soalbundy]

29 minutes ago, tomacht8 said:

Beside that many from the islanders do not want an airport, this chimera will never be profitable with a 1100 meter runway. The Cessna Grand Caravan with 12 Seats could land/start, but with their ATR72-500 is already critical, without safety margins.
For comparison: Koh Samui runway is 2,060 meters.

They plan with 1000 passengers per day. Where are the passengers come from?
Price aggressive competition there is in Surat Thani and in Nakhon Si Thammarat enough with Thai, Nok, Smile, Air Asia, Lion Air. Even Bangkok Airways on Koh Samui had to slash the number of its flights.
 

The land bought for 500 million baht from a mini airline with 3 small aircrafts?
Where does the money come from?
 

asking questions like that can cause you severe 9mm headaches here 

[DLang]

So a BKK Airways monopoly on Samui, and a Kan Air monopoly on Pha Ngan.

 

Sounds about right for Thailand - where 4 elevated rail routes in the capital are under the patronage of 4 different and incompatible rail companies and systems.

[diddygq]

It would take some of the adventure out of making the long trek down to Koh Phang Ngang. 

[Thaidream]

The full moon party needs to be stopped IMHO due to the  use of illegal drugs; fights; and general depravity. Yes, I like a good time- but this is not that. It gives Thailand a bad name and shows the worst in foreigners.  It's nothing but a money grab. Quality tourists? I don't think so.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Thaidream

[khunPer]

4 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

Beside that many from the islanders do not want an airport, this chimera will never be profitable with a 1100 meter runway. The Cessna Grand Caravan with 12 Seats could land/start, but with their ATR72-500 is already critical, without safety margins.
For comparison: Koh Samui runway is 2,060 meters.

They plan with 1000 passengers per day. Where are the passengers come from?
Price aggressive competition there is in Surat Thani and in Nakhon Si Thammarat enough with Thai, Nok, Smile, Air Asia, Lion Air. Even Bangkok Airways on Koh Samui had to slash the number of its flights.
 

The land bought for 500 million baht from a mini airline with 3 small aircrafts?
Where does the money come from?
 

Earlier it has been said in the news, taht they are planning to use leased ATR-42 aircraft. Fully loaded that require 1,090 meters runway and up to 1,205 meter at sea-level, depending of version, i.e. ATR42-300 to ATR42-600. With max. pax (48 passengers) an ATR42-600 requires 1,025 meter at 300 knot take-off speed; range enough for Bangkok including reserves.

 

ATR-72 with max. pax (68 passengers) will require about 1,200 meter take-off run, depending of fuel load.

 

Up to 1,000 passengers a day (i.e. 500 arriving, and 500 departing) is not unrealistic; however it will require some 10 ATR-42 operations a day. Koh Samui Airport has more than 4,000 passengers a day in average. With the number of rooms available a Koh Phangan – and there do come other visitors, than for Full Moon Parties – that estimated figure seem fair enough. Looking at party-youngsters, the air-alternative may be depending of price, compared to bus/train and ferry, although quite some today arrives by air and commute from Koh Samui or mainland.

 

But you're right about the economy; 2 billion bath over 10-years with 10 operations a day, mean some 50,000 bath investment costs only per operation – interest and running costs, etc. not included; just a quick head-calculation.

[tomacht8]

8 hours ago, khunPer said:

Earlier it has been said in the news, taht they are planning to use leased ATR-42 aircraft. Fully loaded that require 1,090 meters runway and up to 1,205 meter at sea-level, depending of version, i.e. ATR42-300 to ATR42-600. With max. pax (48 passengers) an ATR42-600 requires 1,025 meter at 300 knot take-off speed; range enough for Bangkok including reserves.

 

ATR-72 with max. pax (68 passengers) will require about 1,200 meter take-off run, depending of fuel load.

 

Up to 1,000 passengers a day (i.e. 500 arriving, and 500 departing) is not unrealistic; however it will require some 10 ATR-42 operations a day. Koh Samui Airport has more than 4,000 passengers a day in average. With the number of rooms available a Koh Phangan – and there do come other visitors, than for Full Moon Parties – that estimated figure seem fair enough. Looking at party-youngsters, the air-alternative may be depending of price, compared to bus/train and ferry, although quite some today arrives by air and commute from Koh Samui or mainland.

 

But you're right about the economy; 2 billion bath over 10-years with 10 operations a day, mean some 50,000 bath investment costs only per operation – interest and running costs, etc. not included; just a quick head-calculation.

Holla, with 300 knots “take-off speed” …all you flaps would fly away and your tires would start burning.
Max tire speed is 165 knots. 300 knots is the Max Cruise speed.
Anyway.

“With max. pax (48 passengers) an ATR42-600 requires 1,025 meter”

It can be more:
Take-off Distance ATR42-500

• Basic (SL, ISA+15°, MTOW)  = 1,165 m
• At TOW for 300 Nm - Max pax - SL – ISA = 1,025 m

These values are tested under known standard conditions.
Temperature = 15 °C /  Normal pressure = 101325 Pa  = Air Density  1,225 kg/m3

But in Thailand, temperatures between 30°C -  40°C are common.
Temperature = 35 °C / Normal pressure = 101325 Pa  = Air Density  1,145 kg/m3

The carrying capacity of the air is then significantly lower.
On the 1025 meters take-off, I would not bet.

http://www.atraircraft.com/products_app/media/pdf/FAMILY_septembre2014.pdf

[khunPer]

12 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

Holla, with 300 knots “take-off speed” …all you flaps would fly away and your tires would start burning.
Max tire speed is 165 knots. 300 knots is the Max Cruise speed.
Anyway.

“With max. pax (48 passengers) an ATR42-600 requires 1,025 meter”

It can be more:
Take-off Distance ATR42-500

 

• Basic (SL, ISA+15°, MTOW)  = 1,165 m
• At TOW for 300 Nm - Max pax - SL – ISA = 1,025 m

 

These values are tested under known standard conditions.
Temperature = 15 °C /  Normal pressure = 101325 Pa  = Air Density  1,225 kg/m3

But in Thailand, temperatures between 30°C -  40°C are common.
Temperature = 35 °C / Normal pressure = 101325 Pa  = Air Density  1,145 kg/m3

The carrying capacity of the air is then significantly lower.
On the 1025 meters take-off, I would not bet.

http://www.atraircraft.com/products_app/media/pdf/FAMILY_septembre2014.pdf

 

 

 

Sorry – stand corrected – should say "300 NM"...

[khunPer]

I have often wondered, why seaplanes have never been a option for Koh Phangan air service – and Kho Tao, for that matter – as they successfully have been at other similar places; like the Dane who started Trans Maldivian Airways some years back (he recently sold it for a substantial amount). Think they use Twin-otters, the latest versions can carry some 17 passengers...

 

 

[PoorSucker]

2 hours ago, khunPer said:

I have often wondered, why seaplanes have never been a option for Koh Phangan air service – and Kho Tao, for that matter – as they successfully have been at other similar places; like the Dane who started Trans Maldivian Airways some years back (he recently sold it for a substantial amount). Think they use Twin-otters, the latest versions can carry some 17 passengers...

 

They had a service 10 years ago on Samui.

My neighbor was the pilot.

Went down with the coco blues bankruptcy.

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, PoorSucker said:

 

They had a service 10 years ago on Samui.

My neighbor was the pilot.

Went down with the coco blues bankruptcy.

Thanks – yes, that I remember – but think it was for visa-run only to the Burmese-border at the Andaman-side; and known to be quite expensive at that time.

 

There was a thread about it on TVForum in 2006 (my Google search).

[tomacht8]

On 9.9.2016 at 1:09 PM, khunPer said:

I have often wondered, why seaplanes have never been a option for Koh Phangan air service – and Kho Tao, for that matter – as they successfully have been at other similar places; like the Dane who started Trans Maldivian Airways some years back (he recently sold it for a substantial amount). Think they use Twin-otters, the latest versions can carry some 17 passengers...

 

 

Unfortunately, the wave height is quite variable.
For this maneuver, you need a mirror smooth sea.
The weather conditions are often as different.

 

[Bsd]

I read the article in the post last week, as always the completion date is end of NEXT year.

 

Interesting that they say they need an EIA, originally they were trying to be tricky and use some rule that you didn't need one for such a short runway.  Is the impact being compared to the current state of the site (200 rai of dirt) of the state when they started (200 rai of forest)?

 

Speaking of the EIA, I did see the announcement of the meeting for the public to have their say.  It was posted the day before the meeting and no time was given.

 

Finally 1.5 billion baht at 2% is 30 million just in interest charges, given the number of passengers to be expected that is 100-200 baht per person just to cover the interest, never mind the principal or the operating costs (off both the airport and the plane).  Tickets will not be cheap.

[HooHaa]

On 9/7/2016 at 2:41 PM, diddygq said:

It would take some of the adventure out of making the long trek down to Koh Phang Ngang. 

 

long trek?

 

i get the 6am flight out of bangkok and im in my house on phan ngan by 9am. 

hardly a trek

[khunPer]

13 hours ago, tomacht8 said:

Unfortunately, the wave height is quite variable.
For this maneuver, you need a mirror smooth sea.
The weather conditions are often as different.

 

I live by the sea – the water separating Samui and Phangan – see the sea every day 7/365, the sea is mostly calm.

Wonder how the sea is at the Maldives..?

[HooHaa]

that can rise to 2-3 meters during monsoon, it may look flat from your balcony,  but it isnt. 

[soalbundy]

On 9/6/2016 at 5:49 PM, Brer Fox said:

They will need to be quite spartan aircraft. Ones which can be hosed out after the passengers have staggered off the plane.

Why not use a cattle barge for the crossing and a cattle train back to BKK, most wouldn't notice.

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, HooHaa said:

that can rise to 2-3 meters during monsoon, it may look flat from your balcony,  but it isnt. 

Monsoon is a short period of time and predicted to off season –the original Samui-Phangan "no season", where the resorts closed down – from November to Xmas; monsoon can however last till early January. A seaplane won't land at the middle of the sea or tip of Haad Rhin rocks, where there often are some waves, but in an area with normally swallow water. If it can be done at the flat Maldives in the middle of the ocean – and for that matter in Danish waters, where a new sea-plane route from Copenhagen to Aarhus just opened this year – it must be possible at Phangan also.

 

By the way, I'm living "on the beach", so have a good feeling of tide and waves – and the original Koh Phangan Express ferry that land at the beach in front of me, cannot sail when "big" waves...

[arithai12]

On 9/12/2016 at 1:56 PM, Bsd said:

Finally 1.5 billion baht at 2% is 30 million just in interest charges, given the number of passengers to be expected that is 100-200 baht per person just to cover the interest, never mind the principal or the operating costs (off both the airport and the plane).  Tickets will not be cheap.

 

Tickets will be cheap and the rest of the country will pay the difference.

 

[Bsd]

1 hour ago, arithai12 said:

 

Tickets will be cheap and the rest of the country will pay the difference.

 

 

Except this is being developed by a small airline (Kan Air) and their predicted passenger numbers are at least a couple of times greater than the number of passengers they are carrying on all their other routes combined.

 

This isn't the government where they can divide the build cost over 6 (AoT) or 26(DoA) airports to hide the true cost, anyone flying into Koh Phangan will have to cover the actual cost of developing the airport.