Prev Page 2 of 4 1 2 3 4 Next You cannot reply to this topic Go to first unread post 82 replies to this topic

[Dap]

bernett, on 2009-01-26 18:45:26, said:

Too bad. I really loved the Don Mueang airport, will this relocation means the the property around the Don Mueng area is going down?

Probably not noticably. Don Muang has been around for a vey loooong time and the are around it is very well established. IMO

[Dap]

jaiyenyen, on 2009-01-26 20:47:10, said:

So presumably, this news means an end to the possibility of extending the Skytrain to Don Meuang.............Bugger!!!

Pretty Much

[mango66]

zakk9, on 2009-01-26 15:39:46, said:

lifeisadream, on 2009-01-26 13:47:55, said:

Some of us love D.M. because we can take the bus from up country, get out at the airport and conveniently get on our flight. D.M. is easier and friendlier...I haven't yet flown domestically out of Suwanabhum and probably won't, even if everything is relocated. I also use Don Mueng when I come into Bangkok on business, stay overnight, jump into a van to Future Park, get off at the airport all for 25B for a wuick trip. In the end you have to walk over the bridge which is just part of the adventure.

Swampy does have a proper bus terminal with free shuttles from the main terminal (express shuttle from departure and arrival floors), with buses to all over Bangkok, including Ekamai and Mo Chit. There's also an excellent van service to Victory Monument for under 30 baht.

Swampy is bad, but it won't become better by spreading the traffic between two airports.

Just read what TAT says, the number of travellers will be in short agin as before !
So stupid ignorance you can get only by GVT leade companies and authorities.

Some weeks ago, I could catch a seat on Thai airwas in flight only, as gold member and waiting list !
You dont believe, I found 40 seats free in the plain,
I could sleep on 4 free seats,
but 2 weeks before no seat available, full booked !
Stupid or arrogant ?
its your joice !!

[mrdome]

From a practical, foreign visitor point of view it is the right decision.

[skooldaze]

kuffki, on 2009-01-26 19:37:53, said:

A stupid question if i may!
But does this mean that most people will loose their jobs? so say 500-1000 people will be out of work? or will they give them new jobs?
Is this being done because of the drop in tourism and just like most other company's worldwide AOT is restructuring to save money?
If it is due to drop in profits then may be the government can use the $100 billion that they have in reserves to keep people employed rather then use the money to keep the baht strong.

The moaning from virtually all posters on this thread borders on the inane. If your recall after Suvarnabhumi opened, it became the ONLY airport in BKK. Don Muang was shut down.

The new airport in Cobra Swamp can adequately and easily handle the volume of traffic. The two best signs if an airport is over capacity are the lines waiting to have your carry-on luggage scanned and aircraft queues as they wait on the tarmac for takeoff. Even before they revived Don Mueang there were no traffic probs at Suvarnabhumi. The airport shines in comparison to most major airports in the world. Go to Hamburg, Heathrow, Charles de Gaulle, JFK in New York or the pitiful LAX and you'll see airports clogged to capacity.

This thread is much ado about NOTHING and epitomizes the extent of the whining perpetuated on TV.

Sorry folks, but this thread annoyed me, especially after reading posts about major cities having two airports. How many really do? Fewer than you think that's fer sher.

[cclub75]

I will miss the smell of Don Muang...

[mitrapaap]

marquess, on 2009-01-26 19:06:36, said:

The people runnng the aviation show here are probably the biggest bunch of idiots in the history of aviation! Why can't they have two airports like other big cities? But his is what probably comes from rote learning, repetition without the ability to think

The idiots are those who run to places and spend the money for two places (operation and maintenance costs) while they know that one place could handle it and safe a lot of money.

Given that you are so intelligent, you certainly have the numbers available, so why not indulge us into the real mathematics showing that Bangkok needs two airports, and can afford them.

Looking forward to your figures, idiot.

[britmaveric]

Shame I liked DM, far more than Swampy.

[kenmackie]

mrdome, on 2009-01-26 07:10:48, said:

From a practical, foreign visitor point of view it is the right decision.

"whining perpetuated on TV."

I know you are not a "senior member" ,whatever that means. Good choice of sentiment though. Getting pretty tired of the stupidity and whining here, used to be quite informative. And yes you can have an opinion without having 500+ posts , the number of posts should not even be displayed like it is a badge of honour. TV is getting like the CB radio was in the seventies, alot of talk but no substance

[guruofvinyl]

Let Don Muang die a peaceful death, it served us well but it is done. After all the librettos of Swampy I must admit that it is a functional place with uncrowded areas and impressive, with somewhat overambitious, architecture. It seemed that Don Muang was a quicker shot by taxi to the city center but the Swampy ride is acceptable. Although I don't use the bus terminal it is hard to quibble that it is not useful and the Sky Train will complete the picture. Compared to an embarassment like LAX, Thais can hold their heads high--not a problem for Thais anyway.

[livingthedream]

I always enjoyed arriving at DM International and after clearing imigration and customs taking my wobbly baggage cart up to the second floor and along the footbridge to the Domestic Terminal. Don Muang had an atmosphere, a chaotic and mad hustle and bustle that you kind of expect from Asia. I was never a big fan of swampy, grandiose as it may look and purport to be it smacks of the Emirates and those other big gateways to other places that you are just passing through. As a destination airport it lacks character, it doesn't say 'welcome to Thailand' with all its warts and all .... it says 'see this fantastic and modern architecturally designed state of the art airport, well you're gonna be disappointed when you get outside'
I for one will miss DM.

[bobo42]

Wow, so many naysayers here. I think from a business standpoint, this makes a whole lot of sense. Swampy is certainly a busy hub, but I don't see it as being overcrowded. DM, on the other hand is a virtual ghost town most of the time. DM is a huge facility, and I'm sure the maintenance and upkeep of passenger facilities for what was once a large international hub for just a handful of domestic flights per day is a huge expense.

I'm sure domestic flights will be more of a pain now, because you can't just walk through an empty airport with no lines! I will miss that too! But I don't think they are stupid for this move, it will probably be quite a cost savigs in the long-run (after all the pockets get lined in the transition).

[LPCustom69]

I preferred DM also. It may be old, but quite functional. I keep expecting more problems with the runways at Swampy, but so far, so good.

britmaveric, on 2009-01-26 17:19:45, said:

Shame I liked DM, far more than Swampy.

[RoninTech]

I don't mind the concept of 2 airports. Both of Bangkok's have been good to us in the past. We've had to connect stuff like this before and in all other cases I can remember it was obvious and if you asked how you got a nice easy response. We'll be landing in swampy this February late at night and for the first time will have to transfer to DM to make our connector to Hat Yai early the next morning (all Thai Airways). Just to be prepared I did the usual google search on how to transfer from Suvarnabhumi to to Don Muang. It sure makes for some interesting reading! Whispered rumours of a TG shuttle, pages and pages of how to make sure you don't get ripped off by the taxis, fake buses that will dump you off the beated track etc. Its not the end of the world and we'll just make it into an adventure. However it'd be much nicer if there was a no-brainer connection between the 2. I imagine the taxi thing is no big deal but based on the number of negative posts there's got to be something there as you just don't see the same volume of negativity when searching on different connection transfers.

I sure got excited when I saw the announcement of all flights going back to Swampy as it would completely eliminate this added complexity to our trip. Unfortunately we just miss the window. Next time we'll be happy to not have to deal with the transfer.

Cheers,
Paul

P.S.

Quote

Gizza job - I can do that - gizza job

Your hired yozzer!

[oevna]

I have no real regrets about this. Suwannapoom is a much nicer airport. The only thing that I feel for Don Meuang is a sense of nostalgia, because it's where I arrived in Bangkok the first times that I visited Thailand. I'll always remember the big "Sawasdee" sign over the arrivals hall.

[ezside]

ovenman, on 2009-01-26 19:57:01, said:

robbo1, on 2009-01-26 07:48:37, said:

zakk9, on 2009-01-26 20:23:56, said:

What on earth is the advantage with two airports? It's a waste of time for the passengers and time and money for the airlines.

Have you ever had the "privilege" of arriving with an international flight at Suvarnabhumi to be transferred to Don Muang for your inland flight to Chiang Mai or wherever? Not only does it take extra time, but you have to calculate more than you need in case of traffic jams etc.

Totally agree arrive at swampy connect to donmuang to travel country rediculous

Unlike say, arriving at Tokyo-Narita from abroad and having to transfer to Haneda for a domestic flight?

I'm a bit confused: are you actually saying that having to travel from Narita to Haneda is a good thing? I've been forced to do so only 3 times, but every time my (American) travel agent has woefully underestimated the transit time, causing missed flights & in one case an unplanned overnight stay. After that, I learned: if going domestic in Japan, fly into Incheon or Kansai. Furthermore, the international-domestic split makes sense in Japan because a decent percentage of the domestic flights are populated by Japanese, I'd wager that the majority of passengers on domestic flights in Thailand are farang, many of them transfers from arriving international flights...

[cutter007]

Don't worry when this government is kicked out, don muang will be back again.
It's politics as usual.

[marios]

Guderian, on 2009-01-26 13:59:58, said:

Not a very sensible strategy, IMHO. Most big cities have 2 or 3 airports serving them. Why would Bangkok – if it believes that it can become the major regional hub – want to get by with just one? Changi serves Singapore very well, but Singapore is a small place, relatively speaking. So the plan is to spend 100 billion Baht on Swampy phase 2 instead of maybe a few billion Baht upgrading Don Mueang. Of course, the percentage of that 100 billion Baht (or whatever the number is) that will end up in corrupt politicians’ and administrators’ pockets (compared with virtually zero baksheesh from keeping Don Mueang going) will definitely not have swayed this decision. :rolleyes:

Edited by marios, 2009-01-27 03:00:40.

[NanLaew]

marquess, on 2009-01-26 19:56:43, said:

That is part of the stupdity in the first place that they never developed a link between the two airports when there is a railway station right by Don Muang. As I said one of the biggest bunch of idiots in aviation planning history.

Hold on, Heathrow and Gatwick both have railheads, the latter right underneath the airport and you STILL can't take the train between them. Your award for politics versus common sense should rightfully stay with Gordon Brown and Labour for their blind approval of a Heathrow expansion. Now THERE'S a clusterf*ck of an airport for you!

Other major cities have multiple airports because of similar lack of planning and forethought by successive administrations. Having several airports isn't necessarily a status symbol.

Regards the OP, Bangkok only needs ONE airport and it's Suvarnabhumi, end of! Sure it's a gravy train for whatever colour of shirt is flavour of the month in the city but that's not a uniquely Thai problem. With regards to a comment about their being less 'vested interests' involved with keeping a commercial operation at Don Muang; this assumes that the military are above politics and graft. This IS Thailand you are talking about here isn't it?

[tigg74]

marquess, on 2009-01-26 19:56:43, said:

robbo1, on 2009-01-26 13:48:37, said:

zakk9, on 2009-01-26 20:23:56, said:

marquess, on 2009-01-26 12:06:36, said:

The people runnng the aviation show here are probably the biggest bunch of idiots in the history of aviation! Why can't they have two airports like other big cities? But his is what probably comes from rote learning, repetition without the ability to think

What on earth is the advantage with two airports? It's a waste of time for the passengers and time and money for the airlines.

Have you ever had the "privilege" of arriving with an international flight at Suvarnabhumi to be transferred to Don Muang for your inland flight to Chiang Mai or wherever? Not only does it take extra time, but you have to calculate more than you need in case of traffic jams etc.

Totally agree arrive at swampy connect to donmuang to travel country rediculous

That is part of the stupdity in the first place that they never developed a link between the two airports when there is a railway station right by Don Muang. As I said one of the biggest bunch of idiots in aviation planning history.

[kangeroo]

comparing swampy with DM how stupid is that , of coarse DM has more history because of the time it has been there and a lot of old travelers are used to it . But i think give it time Suwannapoom will ok , i must say i get around swampy a lot better than DM .

[marquess]

mitrapaap, on 2009-01-26 17:16:16, said:

marquess, on 2009-01-26 19:06:36, said:

The people runnng the aviation show here are probably the biggest bunch of idiots in the history of aviation! Why can't they have two airports like other big cities? But his is what probably comes from rote learning, repetition without the ability to think

The idiots are those who run to places and spend the money for two places (operation and maintenance costs) while they know that one place could handle it and safe a lot of money.

Given that you are so intelligent, you certainly have the numbers available, so why not indulge us into the real mathematics showing that Bangkok needs two airports, and can afford them.

Looking forward to your figures, idiot.

I am sure IDIOT if you so clever you can work them out yourself

[endure]

Can we stop the flaming please. If you want to act like schoolchildren go and find a playground.

[Ieyuhrah]

This mean that we can no longer stand at the upper level outdoor railing to watch the people disembark down the stairways & walk aross the tarmac like we used to at DM.

[SKORPiO]

Wow, you guys are really going at it

In Chicago there are two airports and there is no link between them at all. You just book thru whichever fits your plan and schedule. I do agree that one airport is better for traveler but usually the limit of airport is reached when it has no room to expand because of all surrounding properties. Suvarnabhumi airport does not have this problem and i see it only as a benefit for it to be the only one. I know that there are people who live far away from new airport, but honestly, how often do you have to go there?

regards, Bartek.