Gaybutton Posted September 26, 2006 Posted September 26, 2006 The following appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ Trouble on New Airport's Horizon? Chance of Bumpy Ride for Travellers BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA Passengers passing through Suvarnabhumi Airport in the near future should not anticipate an entirely hassle-free experience, according to aviation experts. Experts warned of inevitable glitches as the countdown began to the official opening of Bangkok's 125-billion-baht airport in the early hours of tomorrow, and the closure of the 92-year-old Don Muang airport tonight. ''... It could take up to three months before everything falls into place,'' said Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth, the founder and chief executive of Bangkok Airways. ''Of course we are nervous that Suvarnabhumi Airport might fail,'' said Tony Fernandes, chief executive of the budget carrier AirAsia. ''Every new airport will have problems. No matter how much you test [the facilities], there's nothing like the real thing,'' he added. But he said he didn't expect any major problems for the new airport. The most likely problems to emerge at Suvarnabhumi may be connected to the IT and baggage systems. Teething problems could occur when around 90 airlines actually start operating 700 flights and carrying about 110,000 passengers per day through the new facility. A limited number of flights by a few airlines earlier this month, during the new airport's soft opening, was not enough to truly test its mechanisms. Although, even then, some hiccups occurred. The most recent case happened on Monday, when one of the airbridges failed, forcing passengers of Thai AirAsia's 737-300 from Kuala Lumpur (flight FD 3572) to disembark via steps and transfer by bus to the terminal. It then took nearly an hour for passengers of the same flight to retrieve their luggage due to some confusion about the assignment of carousels. Because of the uncertainties surrounding the smooth running of Suvarnabhumi, most carriers have adopted a wait-and-see attitude and will not yet expand their operations and services from those previously provided at Don Muang. Dr Prasert confirmed that Bangkok Airways operations would continue on a par with Don Muang, while Thai AirAsia chief executive Tassapon Bijleveld said the budget carrier would freeze its operations at the current level for the next few months until Suvarnabhumi operations had settled down. Most airlines, including Thai Airways International, which operates the most number of services through Bangkok (around 200 flights a day) have made contingency plans in case of system failure. Quote
Gaybutton Posted September 28, 2006 Author Posted September 28, 2006 BANGKOK, Sept 28 (TNA) The first full day of operations of Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport kicked off Thursday morning with little fanfare, but the first passengers experienced a minor glitch caused by delays in collecting passenger baggage. The futuristic US$4 billion airport which boasts the world's largest passenger terminal, the world's largest hangar, and world's tallest control tower--at 132.2 metres higher than Kuala Lumpur International Airport's tower by 10 metres--officially opened on schedule. However, passengers on the first commercial flight landing at Suvarnabhumi -- Aeroswit flight VV 171 from Ukrain's Kiev with 206 passengers-- had to wait more than one hour to collect their baggage from the new automated baggage handling machines. Chotisak Asapaviriya, president of Airports of Thailand (AoT) explained that the delay had nothing to do with the airport's baggage handling machines. "It's only a minor glitch," he said, "the delay was caused by ground equipment transportation of Thai Airways International (THAI) from Bangkok International Airport (Don Muang) to Suvarnabhumi." The full transfer of passenger flights and other commercial aviation responsibilities from Don Muang, which has served travellers for nine decades, to the new airport was completed at 3am Thursday (2000 GMT Wednesday). Thailand's military assigned 800 troops to the airport to ensure safety. Several army canine units have been deployed at the single passenger terminal to inspect suspicious packages. Suvarnabumi, about 25 kilometres east of Bangkok, is capable of handling 76 flights per hour and services 90 airlines. The airport will initially serve 45 million passengers annually, with capacity expected to more than double once it becomes fully operational. (TNA)-E001 Police to Introduce Fingerprint Scanning at Suvarnabhumi Suvarnabhumi, Sept 28 (TNA) The Immigration Bureau plans to install fingerprint identification equipment at Suvarnabhumi Airport within the next two months. The new equipment is part of a global trend among international airports to utilise biometric scanning technology for security and efficiency purposes. Quote
