No going back to Don Muang

Is it any wonder? If the low-cost airlines were allowed to return to Don Muang, it would spark a mass migration of airlines and passengers back to the old, but more efficient and functional, airport. What a fiasco.

Transport says no swift return to Don Muang
AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK
Bangkok Post, 29 November 2006

The Transport Ministry is determined to operate Suvarnabhumi as Bangkok's only international airport and has dismissed a push by low-cost airlines to have Don Muang re-opened to them.

Key government agencies, including the Aviation Department, the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning and the National Economic and Social Development Board, held another round of talks yesterday to seek a common position on the future of Don Muang.

The talks were called after repeated requests from low-cost airlines that they be allowed to shift their operations back to Don Muang from Suvarnabhumi.

Deputy Transport Minister Sansern Wongcha-um insisted after the meeting that Suvarnabhumi would remain the capitals' single airport at least for the time being because a change after Suvarnabhumi's opening in late September would just cause more confusion.

He acknowledged the problems of low-cost airlines which had earlier complained about high aircraft parking fees and incomplete infrastructure at Suvarnabhumi.

He has promised to find solutions to their problems by the end of January, when the government and the no-frills airline operators will meet to discuss the problems.

The deputy minister has not ruled out a return of budget airlines to Don Muang airport in the long run.

''Suvarnabhumi airport was designed from the start to be the one and only international airport. It has just been opened. An early return [to Don Muang] would be quite weird. But if Suvarnabhumi is saturated in the future, a return will be possible. Today there is no clear reason for a U-turn,'' Mr Sansern said.

Don Muang is now used for chartered and special flights only while all regular commercial flights use Suvarnabhumi.

He suggested Don Muang be developed into an aircraft maintenance centre.

A source at the ministry said low-cost airlines had asked for the return to Don Muang because Suvarnabhumi's vast space did not facilitate the ground operations of their staff.

Not ready for primetime

At last the authorities have come to the same conclusion. Now let's move back to Don Muang while things at Suvarnabhumi are straightened out.

Airport not fit to open 'officially' for six months
Committee says Suvarnabhumi still has far too many issues involving safety and noise
By Post reporters
Bangkok Post, 19 November 2006

A panel overseeing the opening of Suvarnabhumi airport has found the facility unfit for an official opening, recommending it be put off for six months.

Chalit Phukphasuk, the committee chairman and air force chief, said safety and noise prompted the panel to urge delaying the airport's inauguration, which was expected this month.

The committee, appointed by the Council for National Security (CNS), wrapped up its work on Friday.

"There is a load of problems to be fixed. The airport will not be ready for the official opening for six months," he said. "Since His Majesty the King will preside over the opening, it is imperative that everything is ready."

Suvarnabhumi airport's modern and stylish design has been eclipsed by problems since the Sept 28 opening to commercial flights, he said.

Long waits for luggage, hold-ups at check-in counters, roof leaks and inadequate toilets highlighted the early days of operations.

Weeks later, uneven and cracked taxiways and parking bays were found at the airport. Current issues include sexual harassment of female staff by men who work for outside contractors and noise pollution.

The airport's plan to close one of its two runways for four hours every night is raising suspicion it has something to do with cracks on aircraft taxiways and parking bays.

ACM Chalit said noise problems are being attended to. Solutions include changing flying techniques for approaching aircraft and reallocating flight times.

He said Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT), which manages the airport, has also been told to improve safety measures before the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) inspects the airport in June next year.

The airport requires an aerodrome certificate from ICAO to permanently operate. It currently has an interim certificate from the Aviation Department.

ACM Chalit said he has reported the findings to CNS chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and Transport Minister Theera Haocharoen.

An official report on airport operations since opening on Sept 28, including an overview of problems, will be submitted later, he said.

ACM Chalit said the meeting on Friday was the committee's last. The panel was set up after the Sept 19 coup amid calls for the opening to be put off until it was declared fit for operations.

Suvarnabhumi airport, a much-touted project of the deposed Thaksin administration, is plagued with corruption scandals, some being investigated by the Assets Scrutiny Committee.

A newly-appointed AoT board, with assistant army chief Gen Saprang Kalayanamitr as a member and potential chairman, is seen as a CNS attempt to expose graft at the new airport.

Other alleged irregularities involve selection of duty-free shops and food stalls, bids for trolley procurement and the construction of car park buildings.

Issarapan Sanitwong na Ayudhya, national deputy police chief, yesterday said sexual harassment at the facility had been confirmed.

He said Chokechai Panyayong, THAI vice-president for ground services, said female staff were harassed, but had not filed complaints with police investigators.

Pol Gen Issarapan, however, said no complaints of rape or other violent crimes at the airport were lodged with police.

Stay Away From Blind Spots

Female airport staff 'fearful'
AoT: Sexual assault reports unfounded
Source: Bangkok Post, Saturday November 18, 2006
Written by AMORNRAT MAHITTHIROOK & ONNUCHA HUTASINGH

Female staff at Suvarnabhumi airport are working in a climate of fear as airport officials are turning a deaf ear to their complaints about inadequate safety measures at night. A woman ground staff member of Thai Airways International recalled being followed by men to the women's toilet area one night after her night shift had ended.


The toilet is on the sixth floor of the airport car park building. Emerging from the restroom, she was told by her husband that he had managed to get her out of harm's way.


''My husband told me that he had seen two men walking behind me to the toilet. Just to make sure that I would be safe, he left the car and followed them. That scared them away,'' said the woman.


Another female THAI employee said she was given lascivious looks on many occasions by construction workers in concourse C.


''Will it be possible to control access of staff, especially construction workers? This is an international airport and public safety should be the top concern. Imagine, even staff members feel unsafe in this place,'' she said.


Other female employees at the airport, including those working at the King Power duty-free shops, are also saying the same thing, she said.


They have lodged many complaints with the Airports of Thailand, demanding better safety measures. But the airport executives are doing nothing to bring improvements in this area, she said.


''We were just advised not to walk alone. We already go in groups. What we want to know is whether anything is being done to make the place more safer and reduce our fears,'' she said.


The airport is open all night with staff working in shifts to serve passengers. But most travellers are gone from the airport after flights bound for European cities take off around 1am.


It is this period between 1am and 3am that the female workers are most worried about.


Like any airline and duty-free shop officials, female cleaners also said that access to both male and female toilets in some locations was hard for guards to watch because the toilets were in security blind spots and facing the walls of concourses. They said no guard has ever been seen patrolling the toilet areas at night.


One cleaner said she was the only one in charge of the toilets in the whole area and now she had enlisted help from a fellow cleaner and they watch each other's backs.


Another female cleaner said rumours about sexual assaults were going around at the airport and victims were said to be employees of all levels. Although the rumours could not be confirmed, they have certainly scared the staff.


The corridor between gates 5 and 9 of the concourse C is identified as an unsafe area because there are stairs leading down to the basement, they said.


''I always pray when I'm working there because if I am in danger, no one will come to my help,'' said the cleaner.


Thousands of construction workers work each day in the passenger terminal and the concourses. Apart from construction of the subway link, they are also repairing floor tiles and power systems and decorating shops.


Reports about sexual assaults have also prompted the THAI labour union to complain about inadequate safety measures inside the airport to the firm.


Acting union leader Somsak Srinuan said that he has evidence that some of the union's female members were sexually harassed. Staff morale hit rock bottom after AoT executives dismissed the complaints as plain rumours, he said.


Reports about sexual and criminal assaults in the media in recent days prompted the AoT to arrange a press tour at the airport yesterday, where the AoT again insisted that the workers' fears were unfounded.


Passakorn Surapipit, airport deputy director for operations, admitted passages in some concourses were poorly lit and guarded insufficiently. He has ordered improvements, including more guards and surveillance cameras.


Although he had heard of rumours about sexual assaults at the airport, he said he had not seen anyone showing up to file a complaint.

http://www.bangkokpost.net/News/18Nov2006_news05.php

Somroutai ‘s Blog

Somroutai ‘s Blog
The Nation (Media Group) staff shares her first-hand account of noise pollution from the Suvarnabhumi airport
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/webblog/view_blog.php?uid=301&bid=810

*** ไม่เชื่ออย่าลบหลู่ ***

เพิ่งได้รับ forward อีเมล์จากสมาชิกท่านหนึ่งของ blog นี้ ที่อ่านแล้วถึงกับขนพองสยองเกล้า
เลยขอนำมา post ไว้ ถือเป็นเรื่องเล่า (แนวสยองขวัญ) เรื่องแรกๆ เกี่ยวกับสนามบินสุวรรณภูมิที่เพิ่งเปิดใช้งานมาเกือบ 2 เดือนแล้ว
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ตำนานมีอยู่ว่า
หลังจากเปิดสนามบินสุวรรณภูมิได้ไม่นาน มีพนักงานของศุลกากร
ที่ทำงานกะกลางคืน มองเห็น หญิงสาวผ่านเข้าออก เสา ต้นนี้
อย่างผิดสังเกตุ พนักงานจึงแจ้งให้หัวหน้า รปภ.งานทราบ
หัวหน้างานเห็นความผิดปรกติ
จึงแจ้งช่างก่อสร้างให้ทำการเคาะ ปูนที่เสานี้ออกมาหลังจากเคาะออกมาแล้ว
ทุกคนถึงกับตะลึง
เนื่องจากว่า สิ่งที่อยู่ในเสานั้น คือ
ศพคนงานหญิงสาวถูกฆ่าข่มขืนแล้วถูกปูนต์โบกทับติดกับเสาต้นนั้น
หลังจากเอาศพออกมาแล้ว
ทางช่างก่อสร้างได้ทำการโบกปูนทับไปให้กลับเหมือนเดิมอีกครั้งหนึ่ง
*** ไม่เชื่ออย่าลบหลู่ ***
เสาต้นนี้ตั้งอยู่บริเวณห้องทำงานของศุลกากรบริเวณ
จุดรับกระเป๋า ขาเข้าต่างประเทศ

Below is a message that has been forwarded around the net community....As you read it, please be aware that there's a Thai saying, "if you do not believe it, do not make an insult about it."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Customs officials who work on the night shifts have seen a young woman walking in and out of this pole. So, they told the security staff about it.
When the rumour has been wide spreaded, the airport management decided to knock off part of the concrete. The, they found a dead body, a young woman believed to be a construction worker who was raped and murdered, casted inside this concrete pole...Now, the pole has been fixed. It's the one near the Customs Staff Office in baggage claim area of the International Arrival Hall.

mix

under the grossy departure walkway.. when I look down, i really see the staff take a rest and sleeping, in a propper arrangement partition/room........ so post-modernnnnnn.

"What A"

What others have said...
The following is one of the comments posted on "Sawasdee Suvarnabhumi", a section in The Nation's website.
"What A" by globalnomad888@gmail.com 19/10/2006 20:27
The BKK airport is a beautiful building but it is being run in a very unprofessinal manner: Here are 10 issues in need of immediate action:
[1] Why are Taxi and Limo touts allowed to annoy airriving passengers by blocking the arrivals area?

[2] The signage for airprt tax collection is pathetic

[3] Why does the airport collect airport tax in cash? It just perpetuates Thailands third world status. Do what all other professinally airports do get the airlines to include it on ther ticket prices?

[4] Why is it impossible to use the official Limo service only by using cash? Why not take credit cards?

[5] Why does the airport not allow Thai Airways to provide professional competition for Limo services?

[6] Why does the airport persist in treating those passengers on arrival like animals?

[7] Why does not the BKK airport admit its mant failings and subcontract all the services involving the smooth running of the airport to an international service company with experience in running large airports?

[8] Why is the BBK airport so unprofessionally designed? Take a look at the websits from Narita, Hong Kong and Changi to see how an airport web site should be designed?

[9] Why is it impossible to send an e-mail to the AOT to tell them what a mess they are making of trying run their beautiful airport?

[10] Why was the GM of Suvarnabhumi airport employed? He previously worked in a bank. He has never had any international airport management experience. How it shows

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/specials/suvarnabhumi/say9.php

Danger Zone

Another view from the paking building here..
Beside the bad circulation of traffic in the building, the staircase was also badly designed.
At every corner of the platform, they wrapped these tapes around the holders to prevent kids or anyone from dropping off the staircase.

Day 1

I had a chance to be at the Suvanabhumi Airport on September 28, 2006, the first day that it was opened for public, to pick up my younger brother who was coming back from Chiang Mai around midnight.

It was chaotic! The signage was confusing. The traffic was uncontrollable on the drive-way in front of the arrival hall.

So, I went up to the parking building. While I was driving up to the long que, I saw about eight people trying to jot down all the license plate numbers on coupon-like papers. Hmm, they even charged the parking fee on the first day…On the way out to the exit, see the picture above, there were two women sitting in the booth, using a hand-held calculator to sum up the fee. One man was helping them collecting the coupons.

But, when I went there again, two days later, I found that parking was free of charge. Well, I guess those who have got the parking service concession are on holiday.

This is only a personal account to the new airport. I’m sure many have their experiences to share.

Read about other major problems
http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/sbia/sep28.shtml

Background and latest news…
http://www.2bangkok.com/2bangkok/sbia/