DON MUANG BANGKOK FORMER AIRPORT OPENED TO DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL FLIGHTS
Don Muang Bangkok former airport is now opened again to public and around 140 domestic flights a day, operated by three airlines (One-Two-Go, Nok Air and Thai Airways International), will take of and land there instead of Suvarnabhumi airport.
So it's about 20000 passengers a day for Thailand former main airport that everybody was thinking was too old to be used by commercial airlines.
And even when the President of the Airport of Thailand AOT affirms that relocation of domestic aircraft operations back to Don Muang Airport was not due to Suvarnabhumi Airport repairs, everybody knows the truth and some experts even said that in the future the new Suvarnabhumi airport might completely close for one year at least because of a disaster that will happen or might happen.
AOT president said that the main reason is that the number of people using Suvarnabhumi Airport increase so fast and that it is advantageous to relocate domestic low cost flights back to Don Muang Airport for less cost to operate than at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The Airport of Thailand president also said that other issues at Suvarnabhumi such as runways and taxi ways cracks did not signify the unreadiness of Suvarnabhumi airport, and were not the reasons for the move back to Don Muang.
The AOT President added that in the future some international flights might also fly back to Don Muang as some international airlines already requested (maybe for security concerns) and not to use the reopened under its capacity of 11 million passengers a year.
As always in Thailand officials said that everything has been tested at Don Muang airport, including the terminal, airline offices, parking space, security and other facilities, but we will really know if everything is ready only if after a few days of operation no accident occurs.
Facilities at Don Muang airport include restaurants, snack bars, souvenir shops and taxi services (with fifty baht airport tax), cars being under the supervision of the Land Transport Department and subject to random checks for vehicle and passenger safety.
Thai Airways also tested its check-in and ticketing systems at Don Muang airport to be sure that the change of the airport's code and the use of four digits on flight numbers in and out of Don Muang won't make problems.
Security will also be tight at Don Muang with bomb experts from the air force and police sniffer dogs on duty plus hundreds of security cameras that have been installed.
All THAI airways flights moving to Don Muang will do so on Sunday 25th but One-Two-Go and Nok Air will divert some of their evening inbound flights from Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang on Saturday 24th to test the services at the old airport but all flights will go to Don Muang on Sunday.
Don Muang which official name was Bangkok airport changed to Don Muang airport and its airport code is now DMK, while Suvarnabhumi airport still uses BKK as a code.
Airport of Thailand organisation will evaluate the use of Don Muang after six months if no major accident occurs at Suvarnabhumi airport before that time and the evaluation report will help to decide whether the international flights will operate from Don Muang in the future or not, Thailand having the choice until Suvarnabhumi airport won't be completely closed.
Since all regular flights were moved to Suvarnabhumi in 2006 Don Muang bangkok former airport has been operating in the red, with monthly expenses 88 million baht above income for just few flights a day (VIP and officials).
The first four commercial flights to operate at Don Muang Airport on sunday 25th will leave at 6am and are Thai flight TG 1020 from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani, Nok Air flights DD 9200 from Bangkok to Udon Thani, DD7804 from Bangkok to Nakhon Si Thammarat and DD 7102 from Bangkok to Hat Yai. Read more »
So it's about 20000 passengers a day for Thailand former main airport that everybody was thinking was too old to be used by commercial airlines.
And even when the President of the Airport of Thailand AOT affirms that relocation of domestic aircraft operations back to Don Muang Airport was not due to Suvarnabhumi Airport repairs, everybody knows the truth and some experts even said that in the future the new Suvarnabhumi airport might completely close for one year at least because of a disaster that will happen or might happen.
AOT president said that the main reason is that the number of people using Suvarnabhumi Airport increase so fast and that it is advantageous to relocate domestic low cost flights back to Don Muang Airport for less cost to operate than at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
The Airport of Thailand president also said that other issues at Suvarnabhumi such as runways and taxi ways cracks did not signify the unreadiness of Suvarnabhumi airport, and were not the reasons for the move back to Don Muang.
The AOT President added that in the future some international flights might also fly back to Don Muang as some international airlines already requested (maybe for security concerns) and not to use the reopened under its capacity of 11 million passengers a year.
As always in Thailand officials said that everything has been tested at Don Muang airport, including the terminal, airline offices, parking space, security and other facilities, but we will really know if everything is ready only if after a few days of operation no accident occurs.
Facilities at Don Muang airport include restaurants, snack bars, souvenir shops and taxi services (with fifty baht airport tax), cars being under the supervision of the Land Transport Department and subject to random checks for vehicle and passenger safety.
Thai Airways also tested its check-in and ticketing systems at Don Muang airport to be sure that the change of the airport's code and the use of four digits on flight numbers in and out of Don Muang won't make problems.
Security will also be tight at Don Muang with bomb experts from the air force and police sniffer dogs on duty plus hundreds of security cameras that have been installed.
All THAI airways flights moving to Don Muang will do so on Sunday 25th but One-Two-Go and Nok Air will divert some of their evening inbound flights from Suvarnabhumi to Don Muang on Saturday 24th to test the services at the old airport but all flights will go to Don Muang on Sunday.
Don Muang which official name was Bangkok airport changed to Don Muang airport and its airport code is now DMK, while Suvarnabhumi airport still uses BKK as a code.
Airport of Thailand organisation will evaluate the use of Don Muang after six months if no major accident occurs at Suvarnabhumi airport before that time and the evaluation report will help to decide whether the international flights will operate from Don Muang in the future or not, Thailand having the choice until Suvarnabhumi airport won't be completely closed.
Since all regular flights were moved to Suvarnabhumi in 2006 Don Muang bangkok former airport has been operating in the red, with monthly expenses 88 million baht above income for just few flights a day (VIP and officials).
The first four commercial flights to operate at Don Muang Airport on sunday 25th will leave at 6am and are Thai flight TG 1020 from Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani, Nok Air flights DD 9200 from Bangkok to Udon Thani, DD7804 from Bangkok to Nakhon Si Thammarat and DD 7102 from Bangkok to Hat Yai. Read more »
BANGKOK SUVARNABHUMI AND DON MUANG AIRPORTS CONNECTING FLIGHTS PROBLEMS
From Sunday March 25th, Bangkok will run 2 airports, the new Suvarnabhumi airport and the former Don muang airport.
Suvarnabhumi code will remain BKK and former Don muang airport will be DMK.
It's better to plan at least two hours to connect the two airports as one is north of Bangkok (Don muang airport) and the other one east of BKK (Suvarnabhumi), on the way to Pattaya.
Fortunately, at the beginning all international flights will remain at Suvarnabhumi airport, ant only some domestic flights will move to Don muang airport.
Here is the complete list of airlines and their affected airport, Don muang airport or Suvarnabhumi:
Nok Air domestic flights will all move to Don muang airport.
PB Air domestic flights will all move to Don muang airport.
One Two Go domestic flights will all move to Don muang airport.
Orient Thai international flights remain at Suvarnabhumi airport
Airasia and Thai Air asia domestic and international flights will all remain at Suvarnabhumi airport
Bangkok airways domestic and international flights will all remain at Suvarnabhumi airport
Concerning Thai Airways schedule, no change to international flights, they all remain at Suvarnabhumi airport, but some domestic flights will fly to Don muang and some others to Suvarnabhumi.
Flights to Phitsanulok, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Surat Thani, Hat Yai and Khon Kaen will only operate from Don muang airport, as they are not the most foreign crowded flights.
Domestic flights to Chiangmai, Phuket, Chiang rai ad Krabi will operate from both Don muang airport and Suvarnabhumi airport, with most of the flights on which tourist coming from international fights need to connect leaving from Suvarnabhumi airport to avoid them to connect to Don Muang and miss their flight.
Flights from Don muang airport will carry a four-digit flight number, so it will be easier to identify the DMK originating or terminating flights in the lists. Read more »
Suvarnabhumi code will remain BKK and former Don muang airport will be DMK.
It's better to plan at least two hours to connect the two airports as one is north of Bangkok (Don muang airport) and the other one east of BKK (Suvarnabhumi), on the way to Pattaya.
Fortunately, at the beginning all international flights will remain at Suvarnabhumi airport, ant only some domestic flights will move to Don muang airport.
Here is the complete list of airlines and their affected airport, Don muang airport or Suvarnabhumi:
Nok Air domestic flights will all move to Don muang airport.
PB Air domestic flights will all move to Don muang airport.
One Two Go domestic flights will all move to Don muang airport.
Orient Thai international flights remain at Suvarnabhumi airport
Airasia and Thai Air asia domestic and international flights will all remain at Suvarnabhumi airport
Bangkok airways domestic and international flights will all remain at Suvarnabhumi airport
Concerning Thai Airways schedule, no change to international flights, they all remain at Suvarnabhumi airport, but some domestic flights will fly to Don muang and some others to Suvarnabhumi.
Flights to Phitsanulok, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Surat Thani, Hat Yai and Khon Kaen will only operate from Don muang airport, as they are not the most foreign crowded flights.
Domestic flights to Chiangmai, Phuket, Chiang rai ad Krabi will operate from both Don muang airport and Suvarnabhumi airport, with most of the flights on which tourist coming from international fights need to connect leaving from Suvarnabhumi airport to avoid them to connect to Don Muang and miss their flight.
Flights from Don muang airport will carry a four-digit flight number, so it will be easier to identify the DMK originating or terminating flights in the lists. Read more »
PROCESS TO FIX CRACKS IN THE RUNWAYS AND TAXIWAYS AT SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT
AOT Airport of Thailand is still trying to find how to fix airport problems and is now testing a method for draining some of the underground water that is believed to be the cause of the runways and taxiways cracks at Suvarnabhumi airport.
Apparently, a trench has been dug adjacent to taxiway T11, with a backhoe, and a pipe has been inserted to drain the water out through this pipe.
If after a week the water level decline then more pipes will be sued to drain water from another area.
But the real problem is that there are until now at least 100000 sqm damaged and that this process would take age to be finished, even more when the rainy season will come in Thailand (starting from May).
And it’s important that AOT find out how to extract this water before the rainy season because no one knows what will happen then, the cracks continuing to spread, the whole airport surface might need a fix, and Suvarnabhumi airport might have to close.
Also it's time to wonder what will happen if all the water is drained and the ground remain full of holes where the water was located. Because a ground full of holes is not the best to land aircraft weighing thousands of tons, and everything could collapse.
As ever AOT didn't give any real replies to these questions and all experienced airport engineers worldwide agree that this plan has little chance to work. Read more »
Apparently, a trench has been dug adjacent to taxiway T11, with a backhoe, and a pipe has been inserted to drain the water out through this pipe.
If after a week the water level decline then more pipes will be sued to drain water from another area.
But the real problem is that there are until now at least 100000 sqm damaged and that this process would take age to be finished, even more when the rainy season will come in Thailand (starting from May).
And it’s important that AOT find out how to extract this water before the rainy season because no one knows what will happen then, the cracks continuing to spread, the whole airport surface might need a fix, and Suvarnabhumi airport might have to close.
Also it's time to wonder what will happen if all the water is drained and the ground remain full of holes where the water was located. Because a ground full of holes is not the best to land aircraft weighing thousands of tons, and everything could collapse.
As ever AOT didn't give any real replies to these questions and all experienced airport engineers worldwide agree that this plan has little chance to work. Read more »
AOT AIRPORT OF THAILAND MEDIA COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS
AOT Airport of Thailand skills in communicating with media, at least western and English radio, TV, and newspapers are far to be good enough for a so huge and powerful company.
With the kind of information that is going out in English, no one in the world is ever going to understand what is going on and Thailand reputation along with its Airport won't improve.
If you check all the statements that have come out in the press from various AOT and government officials, its’ easy to see that AOT needs some serious public relations help, as any company having to deal with large public should have, it's the best way to avoid communication problems.
It's too late for all the wrong information that has been given until now but in the future some sort of spin doctors strategy should be employed by Airport of Thailand to stem the bad publicity that is inevitably going to result from all these people telling the press things that they wouldn't say if they had somebody to advice them.
AOT needs for example to communicate on the International Air Transport Association query of a plan from the Thai government to fix the runway problems, because failure to produce a credible plan could endanger the airport’s safety standard in regard to the IATA standards which could be dangerous for aircrafts and passengers.
A lowering of the IATA standards would cause airlines to refuse to land at Suvarnabhumi airport and this might be a secret reason why the government has decided to reopen Don Muang airport so fast. Read more »
With the kind of information that is going out in English, no one in the world is ever going to understand what is going on and Thailand reputation along with its Airport won't improve.
If you check all the statements that have come out in the press from various AOT and government officials, its’ easy to see that AOT needs some serious public relations help, as any company having to deal with large public should have, it's the best way to avoid communication problems.
It's too late for all the wrong information that has been given until now but in the future some sort of spin doctors strategy should be employed by Airport of Thailand to stem the bad publicity that is inevitably going to result from all these people telling the press things that they wouldn't say if they had somebody to advice them.
AOT needs for example to communicate on the International Air Transport Association query of a plan from the Thai government to fix the runway problems, because failure to produce a credible plan could endanger the airport’s safety standard in regard to the IATA standards which could be dangerous for aircrafts and passengers.
A lowering of the IATA standards would cause airlines to refuse to land at Suvarnabhumi airport and this might be a secret reason why the government has decided to reopen Don Muang airport so fast. Read more »
SUVARNABHUMI AIRPORT TOTAL EXTENT PROBLEMS NOT YET DETERMINED
It seems that the total extent of the problems at Suvarnabhumi airport has not been determined yet, as well as the exact cause of the damage.
Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AOT) had assigned Mr. Kampee Kaewchaleon as an authenticator to investigate offenders and call for compensation from politics, agents or persons involved in Taxiways and Runways damages at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Even engineers point of view is not clear so details, time and budget needed to fix the airport have not yet been published.
So it seems that nothing substantive is going to come out of the AOT for a while but that everybody is doing something on its side, quite surprising in case of large problems as the ones at Suvarnabhumi airport. Read more »
Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AOT) had assigned Mr. Kampee Kaewchaleon as an authenticator to investigate offenders and call for compensation from politics, agents or persons involved in Taxiways and Runways damages at Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Even engineers point of view is not clear so details, time and budget needed to fix the airport have not yet been published.
So it seems that nothing substantive is going to come out of the AOT for a while but that everybody is doing something on its side, quite surprising in case of large problems as the ones at Suvarnabhumi airport. Read more »
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Informations about Thailand, Bangkok, Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports, and links between the city and airports, especially the new SRT Skytrain Airport Rail Link under construction. People looking for hotels and apartments near the airport rail link will also find all needed informations on this website because it is convenient to stay near a Bangkok Airport Rail Link station, which also links to the Bangkok BTS Skytrain and Bangkok MRT Subway, both having stations near most of the big Bangkok shopping areas as Silom, Night Bazar, MBK, Paragon, and Emporium.
