reader Posted July 7, 2023 Posted July 7, 2023 From The Nation Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT) is looking to the future with an ambitious plan to expand Don Mueang airport over the next six years. According to AOT’s CEO Kirati Kitmanawat, the AOT’s capital investment plan to develop Don Mueang International Airport phase 3 with an estimated investment of 36.83 billion baht has been approved by the Cabinet. The project is currently in the design phase and is expected to be completed and open for bidding in 2024. Construction will begin in 2025, and the new facilities will gradually be operational in 2029. The objective of the development of Don Mueang Airport phase 3 is to expand its capacity to accommodate passenger traffic, improve service quality for both air and ground transportation systems, enhance efficiency, and reduce congestion within the airport. The current capacity of the airport is 30 million passengers per year. The addition of a third passenger terminal will provide 160,000 square metres of usable space for international passengers, increasing the airport's capacity to accommodate an additional 50 million passengers per year. Improvements will also be made to the traffic system for passenger convenience, among them the construction of connections from the Don Mueang Tollway to the passenger terminal. The new Terminal 3 will serve international passengers and international flight routes exclusively. The current passenger terminals 1 and 2 will be renovated to accommodate domestic passengers, with a total usable space of up to 240,000 sqm, making Don Mueang Airport a fully equipped domestic aviation centre. The first will see the construction of Passenger Terminal 3 to the south of the airport, along with Aircraft Stand 6, and the renovation of the 7-story car park building to serve passenger drop-off and pick-up. Another will focus on developing the northern side of the airport including aircraft parking bays, expansion of the northern concourse as well as the construction of airline offices and a VVIP support building. Other segments include the construction of operational zones, the renovation of the existing passenger terminal buildings, construction of public utility systems. and monitoring, inspecting, and ensuring the quality of the environment during the renovation and restoration phase of the project. Funding will come from AOT's revenue, which is sufficient for the investment. In addition to the development of airport infrastructure, AOT is also accelerating the implementation of innovative services for passengers including Common Use Self Service (CUSS) kiosks that allow passengers to self-check-in, and the Common Use Bag Drop (CUBD) machines enabling passengers to tag their luggage, as well as an Automatic Return Tray System (ARTS) for baggage trays, all of which will help alleviate congestion and queueing issues at the passenger card inspection counters and outbound passenger screening areas. Efforts will also be made to integrate various service data of the airport onto the SAWASDEE by AOT application, allowing users to access information at any time. alvnv and vinapu 2 Quote
PeterRS Posted July 8, 2023 Posted July 8, 2023 Funny now to recall that when BKK opened, the government wanted to shut down Don Mueang! floridarob 1 Quote
floridarob Posted July 8, 2023 Posted July 8, 2023 Funny how that airport used to be BKK, now it seems so small, we wonder how that was even possible back then, lol PeterRS 1 Quote
reader Posted July 8, 2023 Author Posted July 8, 2023 Now coded as DMK, Don Mueang has a fascinating history. It opened in 1914 and the first commercial flight occurred a decade later. it’s now owned by the Royal Thai Air Force. There was a brief time just after it was replaced as Bangkok’s main airport in 2006 when authorities considered closing it but those plans were soon scrapped and it was decided to make it a home for low-cost carriers. I still vividly recall landing there on my first trip in 2002 on a Northwest 747 and was awed by the sight of golfers playing on the course that runs between its parallel runways. Read what Wikipedia has to say about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Mueang_International_Airport PeterRS 1 Quote
PeterRS Posted July 8, 2023 Posted July 8, 2023 4 minutes ago, floridarob said: Funny how that airport used to be BKK, now it seems so small, we wonder how that was even possible back then, lol I can remember my first couple of flights to Singapore at the start of the 1980s when the city's airport was located at Paya Lebar. There were relatively so few flights, a dual carrageway road passed through the taxiway. This had to be closed every time a plane had landed or was about to take off! Changi only opened at the end of 1981! More recently, many will recall how Hong Kong's single runway Kai Tak which closed in 1998 had the scariest landing if the flight arrived from the west. Descending low over the Kowloon peninsula, the aircraft had to make a sudden right turn just seconds before hitting the runway. It used to be said that Cathay Pacific pilots could identify not only those apartments with the televisions on but also the channels which their owners were watching! Not all went well with the landings as this vdo of a Thai Airways 747-400 illustrates. Kai Tak's problem always was that the runway did not align with the summer and winter monsoon winds. Extending from north west to south east, the summer monsoon comes in from the south west and in winter from the north east. But it was the impossibility of extending Kai Tak further that resulted in its closure and the development of the new airport north of Lantau island. The third runway at the new airport opened exactly a year ago today. vinapu and floridarob 2 Quote
Keithambrose Posted July 8, 2023 Posted July 8, 2023 19 hours ago, reader said: Now coded as DMK, Don Mueang has a fascinating history. It opened in 1914 and the first commercial flight occurred a decade later. it’s now owned by the Royal Thai Air Force. There was a brief time just after it was replaced as Bangkok’s main airport in 2006 when authorities considered closing it but those plans were soon scrapped and it was decided to make it a home for low-cost carriers. I still vividly recall landing there on my first trip in 2002 on a Northwest 747 and was awed by the sight of golfers playing on the course that runs between its parallel runways. Read what Wikipedia has to say about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Mueang_International_Airport Me too, re golfers. I asked clients if we could play there, but was told it was reserved for military top brass! Quote
