elef Posted September 28, 2006 Report Share Posted September 28, 2006 Bangkok Post Thursday September 28 Link UPDATE: Airport opens to minor glitches (Compiled by Bangkokpost.com) The new $3.9 billion Suvarnabhumi international airport opened early Thursday as most citizens were asleep, with little hoopla - and none at all from the project's final backer, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a coup. "We are 75 per cent satisfied," said Airport Authority of Thailand (AOT) President Chotisak Asataviriya. "There were some minor problems that have upset us." Among the problems were leaky roofs and delays in getting baggage from the airplanes to the departure terminal, which Chotisak in part blamed on torrential rains Thursday morning. Thousands of passengers arriving on the first flights had to wait an hour to collect their bags as equipment was slow in arriving from the old airport, which closed during the night. "The delay was caused by the delay of moving Thai Airways ground handling equipment from the old airport to the new one," said Mr Chotisak. "It's just a minor error, and it will be the only one. "We will never let this happen again," he insisted. But it wasn't the only one, of course. At Thai Airways International check-in counters, the computers crashed before the first flights out. Airline workers were prepared, and issued handwritten boarding passes and baggage claim tags. This caused long lines. But passengers seemed prepared for inevitable first-day glitches, on a day when around 800 flights will land and take off. One passenger said exactly that: "Today is the first day, so we don't expect everything to go well," said Paul Millar, a 46-year-old British man who works in Bangkok. "Fortunately we arrived early just in case," he said. The airport opened with little official fanfare, but a staff celebration, with the arrival of Lufthansa cargo flight LH 8442 from Frankfurt via Mumbai at 3:02 am Thursday (2002 GMT Wednesday). The touchdown was confirmed by a control tower official. The smooth landing of the first official flight sparked cheering and celebration among ground staff and technicians in the control tower, according to airplane captain Stephan Mack, who has been flying to Bangkok for more than 20 years. ``It's a big improvement,'' Mack said in an interview at Suvarnabhumi today. ``You should see the lights from up there, it's like a festival the way it's lit.'' The new airport, an airy and futuristic structure designed by German architect Helmut Jahn, features an oval-shaped concourse, energy-efficient temperature control systems, and several superlatives in airport construction. Thai authorities boast it has the world's largest terminal building under one continuous roof at more than 560,000 square metres (138 acres). The 132-metre (433 feet) control tower is the world's tallest. Overall, the airport covers 132 sq km, (20,000 rai, 8,000 acres). The new airport can handle the Airbus A-380, the world's biggest commercial plane, on its two four-kilometre (2.5-mile) runways, although the plane itself is not yet even certified for commercial flights. More than 800 flights carrying 120,000 passengers were to pass through the airport on its first day. Moving the stair trolleys, ramp buses and about one million other pieces of equipment from one airport to the other required a huge logistical effort and about 1,000 trucks clogged up Bangkok's roads Wednesday and overnight. Motorists were given special traffic warnings and urged to stay off roads and expressways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Encore Posted September 28, 2006 Report Share Posted September 28, 2006 > Among the problems were leaky roofs and delays in getting baggage from the airplanes to the departure terminal, which Chotisak in part blamed on torrential rains Thursday morning. < Leaky roof blamed on rain???? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elef Posted September 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2006 Of course, if not raining no leak! If no rain you don't need a roof, no wind no walls.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted September 28, 2006 Report Share Posted September 28, 2006 To save money, they roofed the building with attap leaves in traditional Thai fashion! p.s. 75% satisfied? That means 3 out of 4 planes landing and taking off don't crash??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elef Posted September 28, 2006 Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2006 Crashes don't count, survivors will be happy and satisfied, rest will not complain.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Evel_Penivel Posted September 28, 2006 Report Share Posted September 28, 2006 All the news reports I've read have mentioned only minor glitches, such as longer waits for luggage retrieval. Was that truly the biggest problem on the first day of operation? If so, then Suvarnabhumi experienced a much smoother opening than just about any other new airport. Evel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TroyinEwa/Perv Posted September 28, 2006 Report Share Posted September 28, 2006 "The delay was caused by the delay of moving Thai Airways ground handling equipment from the old airport to the new one," said Mr Chotisak. "It's just a minor error, and it will be the only one. "We will never let this happen again," he insisted. Won't happen again? Are they planning on opening another airport soon? DM lasted 90 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OCgringo Posted September 28, 2006 Report Share Posted September 28, 2006 anyone have pictures of all the Don Mueng stuff being dragged down the expressway to the new airport , I guess it was raining pretty hard overnight so it slowed them down , They needed to have some taxi drivers take charge , rain never slowed them down Actually I am glad they opened now , they have 6 weeks to get it together before I get there It was never going to be easy , and this push to get it opened before the now cancelled elections made it that much harder , I just hope they did not cut safety standards in the rush , I believe there was an airport collapse in Europe , luckly before it opened ! OC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hornman Posted September 29, 2006 Report Share Posted September 29, 2006 " delays in getting baggage from the airplanes to the departure terminal," DELAY because baggage from aircraft should have gone to the arrival terminal not departure.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted September 29, 2006 Report Share Posted September 29, 2006 That terminal collapse was at CDG and was open at the time. A pax was killed. Figure 6 months for things to get completed. [color:brown]Due to the lack of toilets the AoT suggests pax cross their legs and hop.[/color] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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