BANGKOK: Thailand's government announced on Tuesday that it will reopen Bangkok's shuttered Don Muang airport, after a series of problems emerged at its sparkling new air hub.
"The cabinet has decided to maintain two international airports for our country because there have been many setbacks at Suvarnabhumi Airport and we need to prepare to handle more passengers in the future," Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont told reporters.
"Therefore it's necessary to have Don Muang as a second international airport," he said.
Transport Minister Thira Haocharoen said the decades-old Don Muang would be ready to resume commercial operations within 45 days.
"Don Muang will permanently re-open and we are now considering which airlines are to move back to Don Muang," Thira told reporters.
The decision took Thailand's aviation authorities by surprise.
The airport issue had not been on the cabinet's agenda for Tuesday and the transport minister had previously recommended only moving some domestic flights to Don Muang on a temporary basis to allow for repairs at Suvarnabhumi.
Don Muang has been closed since the gleaming Suvarnabhumi Airport opened in September to great fanfare, when it was trumpeted as a symbol of modern Thailand and its plans to become the region's premier travel hub.
Instead, the airport has become mired in problems ranging from cracks in the taxiways and runways, to allegations of graft and complaints about sanitation.
Highlighting the problems, Thailand's aviation authority last month declined to renew an international safety certificate for Suvarnabhumi.
The certificate is not required by law for the airport to operate, meaning it can stay open while the problems are sorted out.
Re-opening the old airport will postpone the need to expand Suvarnabhumi, which opened with a capacity of 45 million passengers a year.
Airline officials say that traffic has rapidly risen toward that point and the government had already planned a new terminal for low-cost carriers at Suvarnabhumi, which was designed to eventually grow to handle 100 million passengers a year.
Kulya Pakakrong, acting president of Airports of Thailand – which operates Suvarnabhumi – voiced surprise at the decision and warned that expansion would still be needed at Suvarnabhumi.
"Both Aviation Department and Airports of Thailand were surprised by the urgent, unexpected decision made by the cabinet," Kulya told AOT.
She had previously said that operating two airports would only temporarily solve the problems at the new airport.
Critics have also voiced concern about splitting air traffic between the two for fear the move would create confusion among travellers and that people trying to make connections could become snarled up in Bangkok's notorious traffic.
But Thailand's civil aviation chief Chaisak Angkasuwan said many big cities have more than one airport and Bangkok should be no different.
"In Tokyo or France, they operate more than one international airport in a big city so I don't see any obstacle for Thailand to do the same thing," Chaisak told AFP. - AFP/so
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