DUMB AND DUMBER Thai Cabinet Approve Don Mueang Plan

Insider Story Locations

Find our most recent stories tagged by their locations. Click here for more story locations.

Posted: 19 Jun 2012 | 11:28 pm

Today the Thai Cabinet approved plans to reactive plans to reactivate Don Mueang Airport for mainly low-cost airline carrier use.

Despite warnings from international bodies such at IATA that the move will create considerable inconvenience for travelers and confusion, the government remains intent upon beating the dead horse that is the former gateway airport.

Currently the AoT (Airports of Thailand) has continued to rack up losses and is looking at ways to contain the financial damage.

Ultimately politics remain key to the mix, given that the airport also has close links to the Air Force.

While Phuket has continued to be a key beneficiary of the growth of low-cost carriers there remains considerable questions over the logistics of passengers flying into Bangkok on international flights and connecting to low-cost airlines at separate airports.

For a country that is intent to grow year on year visitor arrival figures, the lack of proper transportation infrastructure forward planning remains unanswered question.

DO YOU LIKE THIS?

The headline is the Dumb & Dumber part of the article. Cities like Berlin, New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo or Shanghai all operate two or three airports. It should be evaluated why IATA made such a comment as they should clearly know the benefits as they are the ones that think those other cities should keep their multiple airports.
Yes for a few weeks or maybe month, there is going to be some confusion with some travelers which airport they have to go to. That is not a big obstacle and airlines will have to do their part to educate their passengers.
In addition having two international airports will create more opportunities for airlines to grow and make Bangkok a more attractive Hub for all of Asia.
Further more, it will create additional jobs in Bangkok as many positions not needed right now at DMK will have to be filled.
This decision was long over due and it is to be seen if the AoT is going to make DMK into an A class airport for Low Cost and Charter airlines as well as some Cargo only operators. Attracting likes like UPS, FedEx or DHL to DMK would just be the the winning combination.
The only critical point is if the government is going to restart the Airport Link or BTS from DMK to the city center and build very fast a link between DMK and BKK. With such a combination this city pair of airports would be able to give Bangkok a 100 Million passenger capability beating hubs like SIN, HKG and SEL!

Zd, 26 Jun 2012 | 1:56 pm

This is a great opportunity for someone to start a low cost carrier linking Suvarnaphumi with Don Muang!

Steven, 21 Jun 2012 | 8:21 am