BANGKOK, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Thai authorities say Bangkok's much-needed second international airport will be ready for business soon, but the airline industry says major problems are likely to prevent it from opening as scheduled in 2005.
Suvarnabhumi airport, as the second airport is to be called, has been on the drawing board since 1960 when plans were first drawn up by a committee formed in 1960, more than a decade before the first Boeing 747 jumbo jet flew, and only two years after the start of trans-Atlantic passenger jet flights.
The necessary land, to the east of the capital, was bought in 1973, three years before the Anglo-French Concorde first flew fare-paying passengers. Almost 30 years on, the airport is starting to take shape.
Some work is on or ahead of schedule, concrete is being poured at an impressive rate and the authorities insist Suvarnabhumi will open in 2005, but industry observers and insiders remain skeptical.
Speaking to reporters in Bangkok on Tuesday, David Inglis of the International Air Transport Association said there were major problems with the airport project.
He said there is very little sign of progress with the eastern runway, though its western counterpart is in place. That raises the worrying possibility that the airport may have only one runway on opening day.
Then there is the fact that the current Phase I of the project envisages a capacity of 30 million passengers per year, fewer than Don Muang airport is now handling -- without any growth in demand in the intervening years.
Phase II of the new airport envisages expansion to capacity of around 50 million passengers per year, but there are still no concrete plans, let alone funding, to turn the second phase into reality.
Other concerns include the fact that it appears no decision has yet been made on a baggage handling system for Suvarnabhumi. By contrast, Inglis points out, Singapore has already selected a system and supplier for the new Terminal 3 at Changi airport, though that is not due to open until 2007.
The airline industry would be clearly horrified if a low-capacity Suvarnabhumi shares the load with the old Don Muang. There is no guarantee that a proposed rail link to connect the 18-mile distance will be complete by 2005.
Speaking on behalf of airlines, Warren Gerig, general manager in Thailand for United Airlines, said Suvarnabhumi "must" open with two runways. He called the possibility of load sharing "a disaster."
But the Thai government announced Tuesday that Don Muang would stay open for charter flights even after Suvarnabhumi is operational. Since there are few charter flights into Bangkok, this announcement has been viewed by some as the start of a "softening-up" process for the two-airport solution the airlines dread.
Don Muang has several problems.
It has two runways that cannot be operated independently, because they are too close (at about 600 meters, against the internationally recommended minimum of 1,600 meters). And the terminal buildings are to the side of the runways, instead of between them as in most major modern airports, so that taxiways for the East runway have to cross the ends of the West runway.
Don Muang's capacity cannot be expanded, either. Its limit of 35 million passengers was reached this year. Thanks to growth of the Thai tourist industry this year, the old airport may handle more than 34 million passengers this year -- more than Hong Kong, Singapore, or Tokyo's Narita.
And if Suvarnabhumi opens another two years late, as many say it will, possibly with only one runway, trying to handle perhaps almost 50 percent more traffic than the two-runway design specifies, and with question marks over baggage handling, the Thai economy may suffer.
Tourists spend around 100 million person-days in the country annually, paying out something close to $6 billion in the country. Tourism accounts for around 5 percent of the Thai gross domestic product.
