Doesn't the name "Suvarnabhumi
Airport" just slip off the tongue?, (locally pronounced as "su-wan-na-poom").
Much easier to say than the
difficult to pronounce
Bangkok International
Airport, which
would have been far more sensible!
Following hot on the
heels of innovative new Asian airports such as Hong Kong and Kuala
Lumpur, this is a futuristic, state of the art glass and steel structure
is of German design.
Rather strangely, this new airport boasts the "tallest control tower in
the world" at 132 metres, and there was me thinking the whole idea was not to have any
tall buildings to interfere with flight paths, just goes to show how
much I know! 1st September 2006:- Thai Airways announce that they will move,
and be ready to operate from 28th September, the day of the official
opening. Ever
since Suvarnamhumi opened, there have been many vocal criticisms, until
February 2007, I had only used the airport once, and found it perfectly
acceptable, getting through in about 18 minutes, so I wondered what all the
fuss was about.
Although, if I was going to design an airport for a tropical country, the last
thing I would make it resemble would be a large glass greenhouse.
March 24th 2007 Don Muang Airport re-opens for local flights, airport code
DMK.
Now some of
the real Suvarnamhumi problems are only just coming to light:-
- Crumbling
runways and taxi ways
- One runway
closed
- Almost 50% of
the internal lighting faulty
- Poor
facilities, both catering and lack of toilets
- Nowhere near
large enough, almost at full capacity within weeks!
- Poor baggage
handling leading to long incoming delays.
- February sees
the safety certificate withdrawn!
- A reader
reports a 1 hour 20 minute flight took 1 hour and 45 minutes to
begin disembarkation!
- Severe
congestion when checking in to domestic flights.
- Maximum
capacity almost reached within months of opening.
- Domestic &
International all handled in the same terminal building.
- CTX baggage
scanners, dozens were bought at over double the "one off"
advertised price.
- Inadequate
fire exits.
- All retail
outlets handled by
one
company, King Power. Contact cancelled 22nd March 2007.
Heralded as a
great achievement, 2007 has seen Suvarnabhumi turned into a national
disgrace.
Don Muang is being re-opened to cope with low budget airlines
and some freight, although this will only add to the confusion
in my opinion, as Thai announced that they are re-branding all
domestic flights "Nok Air", their low budget arm - so what
happens if you want to fly international to Chiang Mai or
Phuket, how do you get to Don Muang, let alone in time for the
connection.
It certainly
doesn't give the impression of a brand new airport, and when you
think about the local competition (Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala
Lumpur etc.) it fails miserably in all areas.
Runway Cracks
This is
interesting, as far back as 2005, the sub standard
construction methods were reported by Bangkok Post
journalist Sermsuk Kasitipradit, who lost his job over the
claims when the paper was sued for deformation. He was spot
on!
The official line on this is that it all stems from the
airport being built in a former swamp, big deal, Hong Kong's
new airport was built entirely in the sea! and that seems
OK.
What can be
done?
In my opinion,
it needs at least another similar sized terminal building, a
coat of paint on the bare concrete would be nice, and at least a
doubling of the maintenance and cleaning staff.
Some of the signage seems a bit bizarre, there are many signs
directing you to VISA ON ARRIVAL when what it should say is
IMMIGRATION.
Transport
There are
the usual services into the city, although the rate is now
up to 900 Baht by "limo" or London Cab etc.
Taxis are
plentiful and you will find the cost almost the same as
before, into most parts of the city this should cost no more
than 300 Baht depending on the time of day and traffic
conditions etc.
As at Don Muang, it is easier to get a taxi at Departures
(upstairs) rather than at arrivals, this also saves the 50
Baht airport surcharge.
Airport
Buses are still running, but unless you are on your own, the
cost versus using a taxi makes it too expensive and
inconvenient for 2 or more people.
Most taxi
rides seem to be between 250 & 350 Baht.
Airport Hotel
 There
is a Novotel on the airport site, a good place to relax and
have a cup of coffee etc before a
flight...................if only there was a way to get
there!
You can see
it, but no easy route on foot exists without walking through
a car park, going down several floors, and using a rear
entrance.
The
"official" way to get there is in a shuttle bus, but after
trying 4 buses in 20 minutes, I gave up as none seemed to
stop there.
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Take a look at the airport site by clicking
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