Visitors to Thailand are being made aware that following serious technical problems at Bangkok”s new Suvarnabhumi Airport, some domestic flights have been transferred back to Don Muang, which had served as the country”s main gateway since the early days of air transport. Decommissioned six months ago, Don Muang has been quickly reactivated in a bid to relieve Suvarnabhumi whilst repairs and improvements are carried out.
The Thai government has not said how long the repairs at Suvarnabhumi could take, or whether the shift of some flights back to Don Muang is a temporary move.
Thai Airways will operate 30 daily domestic flights out of Don Muang, including some to Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani and Phisanulok. Nok Air and One-Two-Go will transfer all of their flights back to the 90-year-old facility, where airport fees are lower than Suvarnabhumi. Thai International is quoting a minimum transfer time of 3 hours 30 minutes between the airports.
"The decision to move back to Don Muang was based on a series of problems that have plagued Suvarnabhumi, from cracks on the taxiways to out-of-order aerobridges," transport minister Theera Haocharoen said at the time the decision was made to move back to Don Muang.
But the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which represents the global airline industry, said Bangkok would be better off with one airport.
"The long-term vision should still be to have all commercial flights operating out of one airport in order to build a strong hub," IATA spokesman Albert Tjoeng was quoted. He said the Airports of Thailand (AOT), the state-run orgnisation which operates both airports, should "quickly repair the deficiencies it has identified, and start work as soon as possible to inject the much needed additional capacity."
Suvarnabhumi, which means "Golden Land" in Thai, is now the largest airport in Southeast Asia, with an annual capacity of 45m. The expectation is that it will quickly emerge as a serious regional rival to Hong Kong and Singapore.