Survarnabhumi Airport Woes

[rxpharm]

Here's an important story from The Nation

Air traffic

Budget air to fly from Don Mueang

Watcharapong Thongrung

Bamrung Amnartchareonrit

The Nation March 16, 2012 1:00 am

Govt decision prompted by mounting chaos and congestion at Suvarnabhumi

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has ordered that all low-cost airlines move to Don Mueang Airport to improve air and runway traffic at Suvarnabhumi, but the plan is unlikely to ease the current turmoil frustrating countless travellers.

The shift of low-cost carriers to Don Mueang was announced by Deputy Prime Minister and Tourism and Sports Minister Chumpol Silapa-archa yesterday in response to a growing outcry from departing Suvarnabhumi passengers, many of whom have missed flights or suffered close calls.

People familiar with the problem doubt whether the long-planned move of low-cost services to Don Mueang will ease the current crisis at Suvarnabhumi, where renovation work has cut the capacity of immigration checkpoints by two-thirds.

Officials contacted by The Nation yesterday could not say for certain when the renovation work would be completed.

Chumpol admitted that the current problem of passenger congestion stemmed from the fact that only one of Suvarnabhumi's three immigration gates was operating.

International passengers are now being advised to arrive at the airport at least three hours before their flight leaves, rather than the standard two hours.

Chumpol said news of the passenger bottleneck only reached him on Wednesday. He said he could not get involved with the problem but gave assurances that the transfer of low-cost airlines to Don Mueang Airport would help reduce the congestion.

He is now working with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Tourism Authority of Thailand, Tourist Police, and Airports of Thailand (AOT) to help increase personnel by 30 to 40.

Meanwhile, Deputy Transport Minister Chatchart Sithipan said yesterday that in the short term, the ministry would increase officers at the Suvarnabhumi's immigration areas to help relieve congestion in the short term. AOT, as the airport operator, has been assigned the task. In addition, the ministry is coordinating with police to help out.

In the long term, he said the airport would deploy technologies such as an e-passport system that consumes less time, especially with Thai passengers. This would also resolve the problem of congestion at the airport during rush hours. Currently, Suvarnabhumi has annual traffic of 48 million passengers, in excess of its capacity of 45 million.

An Immigration Police source said increasing checkpoint staff was not the answer. "All checkpoints are being manned to full capacity. The problem is not shortage of personnel," the source said.

A source at the Transport Ministry said the government planned to move all domestic and international flights serviced by low-cost airlines to Don Mueang Airport in a bid to resolve congestion at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the long run.

"It's believed that the government must encourage low-cost airlines with incentives to move their services to Don Mueang Airport," said the source, adding that AirAsia alone had 82-90 flights daily.

Apart from AirAsia, major low-cost airlines using Suvarnabhumi Airport are Bangkok Airways and Orient Thai.

Somchai Sawasdipol, acting director of Suvarnabhumi Airport, said he had coordinated with immigration officials to solve the problem of long queues and would pay overtime to officials of Bt100,000 per day as incentive.

Of total immigration counters, 124 are for inbound passengers and 80 are for the outbound.

Maiyarat Pheerayakoses, president of the Association of Domestic Travel, said she had no problem with the government move to shift all low-cost flights to Don Mueang Airport. However, the government should do it very carefully, especially in cases of passengers with connecting flights.

As a long-term solution, she said she did not mind having two airports in Bangkok. It is common in other nations to have separate domestic and international airports. However, transport connection between the two must be developed well to make it convenient for passengers.

The new phase of construction development at Suvarnabhumi should proceed quickly so as to be ready to serve the growing number of passengers after the implementation of the Asean Economic Community in 2015, she said.

Speaking of the current congestion, she said the problem was due to mismanagement by the Immigration Bureau at the airport. She urged the agency to tackle the problem quickly by increasing the number of officers working at the airport.

A few important notes: if you have a domestic flight booked on a budget carrier shortly after arriving in LOS, double check where the flight will take off from. This is just announced, so when the rest of the budget airlines will move is still not set. Also keep in mind the commute time will be to Dong Muang.

For those currently in LOS and going to the airport note the recommendation to show up at least 3 hours prior to your flight to make sure you won't miss your flight due to the long immigration queues. This is recommended until (or if) they can solve the problem.

[farangbah]

Brutal.

The only thing funny about this news is that on this site the number "eighty" gets turned into an emoticon that shoots himself in the head -- Couldn't have emoted it better myself...

[parrotfish]

Perhaps the only ones truely unaware of the problem are the Immigration Police. Despite the construction chaos quite a few of the existing passport check desks are often left unmanned even when the queue snakes around and outside of the immediate waiting area.

How will shifting budget carriers to Don Mueng solve the immigration queue problem if most of the budget flights are domestic?

[SLBT]

Its a pain in the arse man.. I was in the line to get out for over an hour..

[SiamSam]

I found if you eat a clove or two of raw garlic, burp and fart a little the people in front of you tend to move to another queue. Works for me. It also helps to move people sitting next to you on the flight so you have more room on the way home.

[RocketSquirrel]

I found if you eat a clove or two of raw garlic, burp and fart a little the people in front of you tend to move to another queue. Works for me. It also helps to move people sitting next to you on the flight so you have more room on the way home.

Try a wheel chair...this works great in a crowded museum too :)

[rxpharm]

Here's an update on Don Mueang from The Bangkok Post http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/aviation/294092/aot-boots-up-don-mueang.

AoT boots up Don Mueang

Published: 19/05/2012 at 04:00 AM Newspaper section: Business 0

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Don Mueang airport, now only marginally used, will be fully reactivated under a policy reversal by Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) to provide relief to the crowded Suvarnabhumi airport.

The Thursday resolution by AoT's board means that three terminals at Bangkok's old airport - International Terminal II, Domestic Terminal and Cargo Terminal II - will be revitalised as "relief" facilities.

The decision effectively kills the ambitious development projects on the airport site previously mooted on assumption of Don Mueang's limited role for passenger traffic.

On AoT's drawing board before the flooding hit Don Mueang were plans for an airframe heavy maintenance and landing gear repair centre; aircraft parts and component storage; import car showrooms; a logistics centre; and a convention and exhibition facility.

AoT wants to divert some traffic, particularly that of low-cost carriers and airlines providing point-to-point flights, from Suvarnabhumi, the country's main international airport, to Don Mueang.

Only Nok Air has returned since flooded Don Mueang reopened in March with Terminal I the only one in service. AoT would like to see that terminal handle 14.5 million passengers a year, up from Nok's 4 million.

AoT is particularly keen to lure Thai AirAsia, Thailand's biggest low-cost carrier, whose passenger volume of 7 million last year would go far towards relieving the load from Suvarnabhumi.

Moving traffic to Don Mueang is a quick and easy way to reduce congestion at Suvarnabhumi, which would otherwise see passenger volume soar to 51 million this year, up from 47.2 million last year. (It was designed to handle 45 million.)

AoT plans to offer a package of incentives, including a 10-15% cut in landing and parking fees, to attract airlines to Don Mueang.

Meanwhile, AoT's board on Thursday agreed to appoint EPM Consortium as the project management consultant for Suvarnabhumi's long-awaited expansion.

Slated for six years, the 62.5-billion-baht project will increase Suvarnabhumi's annual passenger-handling capacity by 15 million, rising to a total of 60 million.

With the current Pheu Thai government spending on populist measures, the amount of money expanding the domestic services at Suvarnabhumi is not available, and probably won't be for several years.

I don't know if all the low cost carriers will shift to Don Mueang - Air Asia might not, but if you will be using the other carriers for domestic flights, be sure to give yourself PLENTY of time to transit between the two airports.