Can new airport handle the load ??

[BuffHello]

Doubts over new Bangkok airport

Steve Creedy

September 30, 2005

 

BANGKOK'S new Suvarnabhumi International Airport - set to be a major transit point for Australians and Southeast Asia's biggest hub in terms of passengers - is under fire from airlines fearing it will not be able to cope with rising passenger loads.

 

Even as Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra winged his way to Suvarnabhumi yesterday on the first passenger-carrying commercial aircraft to land at the airport, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) was expressing doubts about whether it has what it takes to become a world-class hub.

 

Thai officials invited media from around the world to witness what was touted as an historic event on the day Mr Thaksin had originally predicted it would open.

 

A Thai Airways International A340-600 carrying the PM and his entourage of 60 dignitaries was timed to land for a "soft opening" of the impressive glass and steel structure at 9.19am, paying homage to the fact that Thais believe 9 is a lucky number denoting progress.

 

The 3200ha airport, costing 155 billion baht ($5.2 billion), will be the biggest in Asia but it has been dogged by controversy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday's flight was described as a technical test and involved a massive security operation involving 400 police as well as the temporary transfer of tonnes of equipment from Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi.

 

While some described yesterday's test of landing and baggage systems as a major milestone, others saw it as a face-saving device by the Government.

 

Further delays in the long-running project to replace Bangkok's congested Don Muang Airport mean it will not open to traffic before at least June next year - some experts expect it to be later - and IATA worries it will not live up to its potential.

 

IATA believes the new airport, 25km from the city centre, does not have enough gates, enough X-ray machines for the number of bags it will handle, enough retail space or the capability to adequately handle the double-decker A380 bought by carriers such as Qantas and Thai Airways.

 

It also has worries about the airport's decentralised passenger screening system.

 

It is calling for an urgent meeting between airlines and Thailand's Ministry of Transport consultative committee to discuss improvements airlines believe are necessary, particularly the need to build a midfield terminal.

 

"We think the airport has the potential to be a world-class hub airport," said IATA assistant director of airport development, Asia-Pacific, David Inglis.

 

"If you ask me, if they open it the way it is right now, will it be a world-class hub airport? No."

 

In 2004 Don Muang handled almost 38 million passengers, up from 16.6 million in 1992, and IATA believes that growth will accelerate.

 

The new airport has 51 gates with aerobridges but only five are thought to be earmarked for the A380.

 

In contrast, there are plans for 19 A380 bays at Singapore's Changi and 18 to 20 at Hong Kong's Chep Lap Kok, both considered world-class hubs.

 

"Regardless of when the (Suvarnabhumi) airport opens, the traffic is growing and we're going to need new gates by 2007," Mr Inglis said.

 

"And you can see by 2010, which basically is only four and a half years from now, we're going to need 99 gates.

 

"The airport authority here has a real challenge trying to keep up with the traffic, which I guess is a very nice and interesting problem to have, but if they don't manage to meet that challenge, then I guess it will cause lots of problems with the airlines."

 

Mr Inglis conceded the Thai authorities had already made some changes sought by airlines to improve Suvarnabhumi, and said it had a good runway and taxiing system.

 

The original plan to open with one 3700m runway had been changed to two runways, one of them 4000m long, with a third planned soon afterwards and space for a fourth.

 

"Bangkok everyday is 33 degrees, hot and humid, and you need to have longer runways from a safety point of view," Mr Inglis said.

 

"You also need it for the aircraft that are going to fly long range, non-stop from here to New York."

 

Authorities had also changed the terminal design to cater for 45 million passengers, instead of the 30 million originally planned, and had agreed to adopt an in-line baggage screening system.

 

But he said the 26 CTX baggage scanners used in the Bangkok system were not enough.

 

While manufacturers claimed the machines could handle 500 bags an hour, airlines believed the figure was about 300.

 

And one baggage expert from Singapore had put it as low as 200.

 

Twenty-six machines at 200 bags an hour equated to 5200 bags but airlines need to process 8500 bags an hour at peak times.

 

"There is just not enough capacity, so I can see that nearly all flights are going to take delays because of late arrival of the baggage," Mr Inglis said.

 

He said passenger screening was centralised at world-class airports but at Suvarnabhumi it would be split between 13 locations.

 

"Will this work? Yes, it will work. Will it be safe? Yes it will be safe," he said.

 

"Is it what we really want? Not from an airline point or view or, I think, from a passenger point of view."

 

Suvarnabhumi would also have the biggest terminal ever opened but its 18,000sqm retail area was less than half that at Hong Kong.

 

Airlines believed passengers deserved better and were worried because many airports derived their income from non-aeronautical revenue, in Singapore Changi's case 60 per cent, reducing their reliance on aeronautical charges.

 

In Bangkok, however, that figure was only 20 per cent.

 

Mr Inglis said authorities were talking about building a midfield terminal by 2010 but it really needed to be built by 2007-2008.

 

"I think it's really, really critical and, again, when you build that you'll have space to build gates that can handle the A380. It's something you really need to work on right away."

 

Despite the Thai Government's sensitivity over the delays at the new airport, Mr Inglis said it should not be opened until it was ready and after adequate testing.

 

"In the old days when you had an airport it was basically concrete and glass: you built it and once it was ready you could go in there and open it," he said.

 

"But airports are now really very complex places and it's the systems inside the airport that are so complicated."

 

Steve Creedy travelled to Bangkok courtesy of the Star Alliance and Thai Airways International