Reports from Bangkok, seems to indicate that everything is far from rosy at the brand new $3.9bn Suvarabhumi Airport opened just three months ago amid tremendous controversy. A report in the Bangkok Post says that deputy transport minister Sansern Wongcha-um has recommended a partial closure of the new facility, the reopening of Don Muang, the now unused airport that serviced the capital.
Suvarnabhumi was pushed through by the previous government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was opened on 28 September, days after the military ousted Thaksin with a bloodless coup on 19 September. Despite reservations about the airport's readiness within the airline industry, the government enterprise responsible for the airport”s construction and management, insisted that the facility was ready for take off. A report says that the airport's information technology facilities are incomplete, the car park building has no drains causing rain water to flow into elevator shafts and there are cracks in the airport's taxiways, said the Bangkok Post.
The airport, a blend of modern steel and glass framework with traditional Thai interior, was designed by German architect Helmut Jahn, who also designed the United terminal at Chicago's airport and the expansion of Munich's airport. It has taken at least 10 years to get this far.