Dep. PM embarrassed by new airport

Deputy PM says airport is embarrassing
AoT ordered to stop thinking of expansion
Bangkok Post 10/21/2006
Author: Amornrat Mahitthirook


Deputy Prime Minister Pridiyathorn Devakula took senior Transport Ministry and airport officials to task yesterday for Suvarnabhumi airport's substandard services, which have become a big source of embarrassment for the country.

A lengthy campaign to project it as a world class airport has only brought embarrassment, he said.

Unhappy about the facilities, he has ordered Airports of Thailand (AoT) officials to stop thinking about expanding the airport and instead spend more energy and time over the next six months to make improvements to its services, according to sources at a closed-door meeting yesterday. The airport should first be worthy of praise for its services before any expansion is undertaken, he was quoted as saying.

Suvarnabhumi can currently handle 45 million passengers a year and officials hope to make it the region's biggest once the airport is fully expanded.

M.R. Pridiyathorn blamed the rush to open the airport for its poor services and stressed the need to rebuild its reputation, said the sources.

"Although the airport and its hardware are considered world class, its facilities are not. This is worrisome and everyone involved must help bring about improvements to the airport because it has been under constant criticism since the day it came into operation," said M.R. Pridiyathorn, who has already used Suvarnabhumi's services three times.

None of the senior officials attending the meeting disagreed with M.R. Pridiyathorn, who is also finance minister, and they promised to quickly get rid of the problems.

Most complaints from travellers have been about insufficient toilets, signs to direct passengers, and a shortage of meeting space, especially at the arrivals lounge.

Transport Minister Theera Haocharoen, his deputy Sansern Wongcha-um and AoT president Chotisak Asapaviriya have all admitted that had the airport's opening been delayed, these problems would not have cropped up. "It's undeniable that the problems resulted from the decision to open the airport too soon when it was not ready," said Mr Chotisak.

The opening of Suvarnabhumi was ordered by the previous government amid warnings that its facilities were not yet ready to offer standard services.

The AoT top executive said the agency had earmarked about 40 million baht to build more toilets inside and outside the terminal by the end of the year.

Fifty toilets will be added outside the airport building and 205 additional toilets will be built inside on the first, second and fourth floors, with some of them occupying areas now being used as the AoT offices, according to Mr Chotisak.

M.R. Pridiyathorn promised to continue a plan of the previous government to build more mass transit lines to transport commuters from residential areas outside Bangkok to the downtown area.

The previous administration picked three lines for construction _ the Red Line from Rangsit to Phaya Thai, the Violet Line from Bang Sue to Bang Yai and the Blue Line route, an expansion of the underground train from Hua Lamphong to Bang Khae and Bang Sue to Tha Phra.

Their future depends on next week's talks, when the deputy premier will assess the benefits of the three routes with key officials at the Transport Ministry, including its minister and deputy, and those from the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning, the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority of Thailand and the State Railway of Thailand. But the policy is clear-cut, according to M.R. Pridiyathorn, who wants to see the mass transit lines to end traffic woes in the capital and enable users living in suburban areas to travel to Bangkok within an hour.

[TrongpaiExpat]

Easy for this PM to criticize since it was Taksin who hyped the airport.

I wonder what ol' Taksin would have said about all these problems. What gimmicks would he have employ and who would he blame. I miss reading Taksin's comments.

Thank Whoever we still have boygeenyus to defend the dignity of Thailand.

Easy for this PM to criticize since it was Taksin who hyped the airport.

I wonder what ol' Taksin would have said about all these problems. What gimmicks would he have employ and who would he blame. I miss reading Taksin's comments.

Thank Whoever we still have boygeenyus to defend the dignity of Thailand.

We can hardly blame the airport design on Thaksin, can we? I mean, it was designed by a farang architectural firm, wasn't it?

I also don't see how rushing the construction, or how the payment of kickbacks on every procurement contract, could have resulted in a larger arrivals area or more toilets on site -- which is what the main complaints have been about, no?

We can hardly blame the airport design on Thaksin, can we? I mean, it was designed by a farang architectural firm, wasn't it?I spent a lot of time once reviewing the history of the new airport. The architects were subjected to a lot of interference from the Thais and the final result does not reflect thier original concepts.

Ah; of course not. Their original design featured lots and lots of toilets, but Thaksin said "Do away with them; let the public pee their pants".

Very few architectural projects get built according to the original concept It does seem astonishing that such basic essentials as adequate toilet facilities, good signage and a workable meeting area did not happen apart from the very odd and inconvenient transport centre linked by shuttle buses.

This is a massive and complex project which despite the harbingers of doom has opened quite well with the hiccups of the automated luggage system having been overcome quickly.

It seems to be human nature to home in on the smallish defects and ignore the massive areas of success. I feel sure that they will quickly overcome these flaws. In a short time we will have a very splendid airport with excellent links by high speed train to Bangkok and a four lane motorway to Pattaya. As the blessed Margaret said "rejoice".

[bkkguy]

It seems to be human nature to home in on the smallish defects and ignore the massive areas of success. I feel sure that they will quickly overcome these flaws. In a short time we will have a very splendid airport with excellent links by high speed train to Bangkok and a four lane motorway to Pattaya.

how much did you pay for your rose coloured glasses?

are the cargo handling disasters, the crumbling tarmacs, the totally inadequate air-conditioning, the staff who know nothing about the facilities, the fundamental design flaws and the totally inadequite transport system part of the "smallish defects" or the "massive areas of success"

there was quite a good letter to the editor of the Post yesterday that summed it all up rather well!

bkkguy

There was a very good article reviewing the new airport in the Bangkok Post Nov 26 (don't know how to link to it).
It confirms a lot of the criticisms seen on this board already esp how HOT it is.
I read the article on the Pressdisplay.com website so I don't know if there is another way to link to the article.

[Sen Yai]

There was a very good article reviewing the new airport in the Bangkok Post Nov 26 (don't know how to link to it).
I also don't know how to link an aticle from Nov 26, but there was an interesting aricle on Oct 26th - here it is:

Bangkok Post: Suvanabhumi (http://www.bangkokpost.com/261006_Horizons/26Oct2006_hori005.php)

Well, I just returned to the US from Thailand and whoever is responsible, the designers or Thais, the airport (SVB) is a shambles.

(And forgive me for not letting you all know that I was leaving, and about when, and to where this time! I thought I'd leave any mention of it or details until AFTER I got here, if you know what I mean :-) )

I had noticed an extremely long walk from plane to arriival area when I arrived in Bangkok less than a month ago. Now that I have departed from Suvarnabhumi. I know that the reason for that walk is that when leaving through the airport you are made to walk through a very large luxury shopping mall. The person seated next to me said it was just like the latest supreme shopping mall the Siam Paragon. There seemd to be hundreds of different shops selling mostly perfume, cosmetics, designer purses, women's clothes ... . There were a LOT of junk food joints, and I don't remeber passing a proper restaurant with healthy food, designer boutique coffee shops (how the world loves to copy success like starbucks). It was immense, and a long walk. There were huge edificial plastic pre-formed structures all over the place in creamy pastel colors that made me just want to puke. It certainly didn't seem to be very "Thai", unfortunately, more like downtown Singapore. I detest that type of environment. It is SO FAKE. I have absolutely NO INTEREST in shopping while I am travelling and cannot understand why others cherish this so much. And based on my experience being asked once to pay $3.85 for a pack of M&M's at Don Muang I won't bother attempting to shop. All shopping will do is add to the problems of people carrying on too much luggage. WHAT is the rationale?

Who shops when they are travelling? If I can get to the gate and I then have time I might look for some food, but forget that here. All departure gates are behind the security screen, so that if you do go to the gate and can let someone watch your bags then you would have to exit the security area to shop, and to tell the truth I don't even know if they would let you exit through security to go through it again. So plan on carrying your bags through the stores if you shop, as you certainly could not leave them around - it would be a security risk.

When the time came at SVB I did quickly find a toilet and it was absolutely filthy. But despite the lack of maintenance persons, there was no dearth of pretty, well dressed women in the stores in high heels and short skirts ready to squirt perfume towards your face.

And what is it about water at most airports around the world including Don Maung and Suvarnabhumi? You ask for just a cup of water at any airport restaurant worldwide and they look at you like you are crazy and tell you your only option is to pay over $2.50 for bottled water. Outside of airports in the US, and most other restaurants around the world including Bangkok, clean water is almost universally served on demand. I know most of you wouldn't risk tap water at many restaurants but I prefer it, especially in preference to the disgusting junk beverages that come packaged in with various meal deals at fast food restaurants. I know there are laws that most restaurant businesses must provide fresh water on demand in US municipalities (as well as toilets, etc). But what is it about airports? Airport restaurants worldwide seem to be excluded and able to tell you to go blow if you want to be served free water. Why? And don't expect to find any healthy beverage like fruit juice at just any airport restaurant.

Whoever is responsible for the design of the new airport had little in mind except to glorify retail "culture" and cut out the standard businesses in the arrival area and replace them, too, with retail culture. The designers should be routed out and punished and the whole design review process, if there was any, is pretty suspect.

I had noticed an extremely long walk from plane to arriival area when I arrived in Bangkok less than a month ago. Now that I have departed from Suvarnabhumi. I know that the reason for that walk is that when leaving through the airport you are made to walk through a very large luxury shopping mall. The person seated next to me said it was just like the latest supreme shopping mall the Siam Paragon. There seemed to be hundreds of different shops selling mostly perfume, cosmetics, designer purses, women's clothes ... . . All shopping will do is add to the problems of people carrying on too much luggage. WHAT is the rationale?



Whoever is responsible for the design of the new airport had little in mind except to glorify retail "culture" and cut out the standard businesses in the arrival area and replace them, too, with retail culture. The designers should be routed out and punished and the whole design review process, if there was any, is pretty suspect.

The answer lies in the name of the major retail licensee - KING POWER. They seem to have had major input into the layout for the interior of the airport.
They are certainly the KING of the retailers and seem to hold a great deal of POWER.

The AoT has, after all, to recoup some of the build and rectification/improvement costs of the airport and they are therefore maximizing the "retail experience" which many consider to be to the detriment of the traveling public. AoT get a large amount of revenue from the retail license fees which they charge KING POWER and the other minor retailers. KING POWER in turn get their license fee outlay and large profits back from the extraordinarily high "duty free" and other prices which they charge a largely captive audience - it is therefore no coincidence at all that most "duty free" and other items are far cheaper in town than they are at the airport.

King Power are notorious crooks and liners of official (mostly air force) pockets. They wield incredible influence.

That said, their booze prices ARE considerably lower than in the city. That's the only thing I'll buy from them (on arrival).

and seem to hold a great deal of POWER.

Well, u know, I'm just a newbie here. Thanks for explaining what's going on.

I hope new retail megaprojects like this don't FAIL sometime.

There was a very good article reviewing the new airport in the Bangkok Post Nov 26 (don't know how to link to it).
I also don't know how to link an aticle from Nov 26, but there was an interesting aricle on Oct 26th - here it is:

Bangkok Post: Suvanabhumi (http://www.bangkokpost.com/261006_Horizons/26Oct2006_hori005.php)

Sheesh, no wonder I couldn't link to it :scratch:

I don't know who this Deputy PM chappie thinks he is, but boygeenyus has declared the place an unqualified success (and apparently without even using it - the man really is a genius). Other people should just pipe down

[Aunty]

(And forgive me for not letting you all know that I was leaving, and about when, and to where this time! I thought I'd leave any mention of it or details until AFTER I got here, if you know what I mean :-) )

I think you're very wise! I certainly have no intention of communicating to the board when I plan to travel to Thailand, or for that, when I am there. I see that one or two others here appear to do the same.




There were huge edificial plastic pre-formed structures all over the place in creamy pastel colors that made me just want to puke. It certainly didn't seem to be very "Thai", unfortunately, more like downtown Singapore. I detest that type of environment. It is SO FAKE.

I couldn't agree with you more!




When the time came at SVB I did quickly find a toilet and it was absolutely filthy. But despite the lack of maintenance persons, there was no dearth of pretty, well dressed women in the stores in high heels and short skirts ready to squirt perfume towards your face.

Well having seen the toilets now you know why! :cheers: