Suvarnabhumi Airport a Blend of Modern Western Architecture with Traditional Thai Cultural Artwork
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AIRPORTS OF THE WORLD Suvarnabhumi Airport A Blend of Modern Western Architecture with Traditional Thai Cultural Artwork Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport finally opened on 28 September 2006, after being rushed through to completion by the dismissed Thai Prime Minister Thaksin. With a projected traffic reaching 42 million passenger in 2007, Suvarnabhumi (pronounced as “soo-wan-na-poom) is reaching its capac- ity of 45 million passengers a year. The new airport has been mired by problems since its opening, including more than 100 cracks on taxiways and runways, corruption claims, inadequate toilets and facilities, and complaints about hygiene standards. Now the question arises whether Suvarnabhumi – assisted by the old Don Muang Airport - is the long awaited answer to the insatiable aviation needs of Bangkok. By Hubert Croes Plans for a new airport for Bangkok already existed in the early seventies. In 1973 former dictator Thanom Kittikachorn purchased 3238 hectares in the low-lying marsh called the “Cobra Swamp” with the purpose of reclaiming new land for building a new international airport for Bangkok. After his military govern- ment was overthrown by the student uprising on October 14 of the same year the project was shelved. Meanwhile, Thailand’s rapidly grow- ing tourism business led to an over- crowded Don Muang Airport, where there was no room for further expan- sion. It was not until the early nineties when the Thai government decided to revive the project as the urgency to Photo 1: Suvarnabhumi Airport Concourse C build a new airport became more and more apparent; this led to the forma- facilities like a rail connection with tional Thai interior and covers an area tion of the “New Bangkok the inner city of Bangkok were post- of 182.000m2 comprising the termi- International Airport Company” poned. In September 2006, the nal itself as well as the concourses. (NBIA) in 1996. However, political Thaksin administration was over- Designed to shade the building and economical instabilities and thrown by a military junta using against intense tropical heat and to notably the Asian financial crisis of allegedly substandard construction as reduce air conditioning costs, the new 1997 caused civil construction to on of its justifications for its coup. innovative roof trellis is one of the begin six years later in January 2002. largest of its kind. The steel and glass In 2005, the construction supervision The name Suvarnabhumi was chosen framework allows much natural light and management was transferred to by HM King Bhumibol Adulyadej in the building. With a capacity of the Airports of Thailand PLC, while which means “The Golden Land”, handling 76 flight operations per hour the NBIA Company was dissolved. specifically referring to the continen- and 45 million passengers per year, The former Prime Minister Thaksin tal Indochina. “Golden Peninsula” or both international and domestic embraced the project the pet of the “Golden Land” is a traditional name flights will share the airport terminal Thai Rak Thai administration. He for the Thailand-Cambodia-Laos- but will be assigned to different parts publicly declared that the airport Burma region. of the concourse. Total costs of the must be operational in September project are estimated at 3.9 billion 2005, and all efforts were concentrat- A Mega-Terminal dollars. ed on the accelerated construction of The seven story state-of-the-art pas- the terminal and runways. senger terminal, a blend of modern After much local criticism, arguing Construction of other ‘non vital’ steel and glass framework with tradi- that the airport was rushed through to e-zine edition, Issue 36 1 completion, the airport finally phone connectivity, poor design of Air cargo became fully operation on 28 utilization space, overall cleanliness, Most complaints have dealt with the September 2006. Overall and the lack of moving walking walk- airport’s handling of cargo. Unclear Suvarnabhumi worked quite well for ways. The lay-out of the airport may documentation requirements, insuffi- a newly opened facility, relieving the mean significant walking distances cient cargo space, processing delays congestion which was well known at from the sober decorated concourses - and the lack of experienced con- Don Muang. Just after a few weeks much concrete with a minimal use of tributed to the disorder frustrating of operation, the performance related colours - to the main terminal. On the business that had goods, including to passengers and airlines, exceeded first day alone, problems with lug- perishable items, to be stranded for airline managers’ expectations, which gage claims resulted to passengers days. were utterly critical about the readi- having to wait for hours. Some flight ness of the airport ahead of its 28 did not have their luggage coming out Meanwhile, DHL launched its new September opening. The new facility after four hours. Airport authorities 22-million-dollar hub at meant less congestion at security say the system could not sort luggage Suvarnabhumi Airport. The new check-point and immigration, more quickly enough, because bags from facility measures 12.000m2 (5 times contact gates, arrival area is spacious other countries were tagged with larger than the former facilities at with more than double the number of excessive information that over- Don Muang) and is capable of hand- immigration inspection booths, a rel- loaded Suvarnabhumi’s system. An ing 23.000 pieces per hour. The new atively well working baggage han- update of the automatic baggage han- gateway to Indochina is considered to dling system, less vehicle congestion dling system is believed to resolve play an important role in the compa- at the arrival and departure areas, and the problem of stranded baggage, ny’s strategy to boost its growth in as some say “a blend of modern west- allowing passenger luggage to again Southeast Asia ern architecture with traditional Thai be sorted automatically by the con- cultural artwork”. veyor belt system. Many flights were Expansion delayed and there were also failures The original master plan envisages Many difficulties were recorded the of the check-in system Subsequent two subsequent expansions, boosting first few days of the airport’s opera- problems included the failure of the up annual capacity to 100 million pas- tion. Passengers and airline managers cargo computer system, and the sengers and doubling cargo-handling cited problems with poor and insuffi- departure boards displaying the capacity to 6.4 million tones. cient signage, dirty and insufficient wrong information, resulting in con- Unfortunately, the plan to build a mid- number of toilets, the lack of tele- fused passengers. field terminal, a third runway and sup- Photo 2: A Blend of Modern Western Architecture with Traditional Thai Cultural Artwork e-zine edition, Issue 36 2 porting facilities that would raise to circle over the airport or land at a inflating its claims in a political bid to capacity to 54 million in 2011, was military airfield nearby for refueling discredit the regime of former Prime already shelved by the former prime and temporary parking. In addition, up Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who minister Thaksin. Prime Minister to 11 aerobridges were out of service was ousted in the September coup… Surayud Chulanont, appointed by the as they were unreachable due to repair Suvarnabhumi was one of Thaksin’s junta led administration after the work. pet projects, and the deposed leader September coup, reiterated in The had made the airport a personal cru- Nation, that the expansion of Although many engineers agreed that sade, and once camped at the building Suvarnabhumi Airport would be kept drainage and subsurface water might site in a show of support. One way of on hold until a full assessment of the be responsible for the ruts and cracks discrediting the Thaksin regime is by damage to its runways and taxiways is in the airport, they could not agree on showing his big, pet project, completed. the sources of the problematic water in Suvarnabhumi Airport, was wrecked the sand layer that had weakened the not only by corruption but also incom- Experts say Suvarnabhumi Airport strength of the asphalt on the surface petence”1 may need to be expanded more quick- of the taxiways. The Ministry of ly than planned to provide the room Transport recommended temporarily At the moment a discussion is ongoing needed to accommodate fast growing reopening Don Muang while repair whether Bangkok should have two air- air traffic. According to the work on the runways at Suvarnabhumi ports operating or not. Fears are that International Air Transport proceeds. However, a two-week inves- operating both Suvarnabhumi and Don Association (IATA) and the Centre for tigation led by Tortrakul Yomnak, a Muang would split passengers, air- Asia Pacific Aviation (Cepa), the air- chief engineer for Airports of Thailand lines, the AoT’s resources and will port’s annual capacity of 45 million and a leader of the anti-Thaksin move- lead to lower cost-efficiency as well as passengers will be reached quickly. ment later found that the runway was inconvenience for passengers. “For Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) presi- safe, and that cracks could be repaired Bangkok to be a strong aviation hub in dent is keen to complete a passenger in as little as a few hours. Many fear the region, the long-term vision should terminal for low-cost carriers (LCC’s), that the junta-led investigations were still be to have a single airport opera- with usable space of 20.000 square unlikely to reveal an impartial picture tion,” said Albert Tjoeng, a Singapore- meters. The LCC terminal could han- of the airport’s shortcomings. As based spokesman for the International dle 15 million passengers a year. became apparent at the beginning of Air Transport Association, the global the investigation, Tortrakul had airline industry group.