Suvarnabhumi Airport may need to be expanded more quickly than planned to provide the room needed to ACCOMMODATE fast-growing air traffic, international aviation experts say. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (Cepa) say the new airport's annual capacity of 45 million passengers will be reached quickly.
They point out that Don Muang airport, which closed Wednesday night, handled around 39 million passengers - almost 10 million beyond its designed capacity - last year. Don Muang handled 21.3 million passengers in the first half of this year alone, up 15.4% year-on-year.
Cepa executive chairman Peter Harbison and IATA spokesman Albert Tjoeng said work should start immediately on a mid-field terminal as well as a budget airline terminal at Suvarnabhumi.
Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT), which operates the country's six international airports, has acknowledged that Suvarnabhumi will be OPERATING at full capacity WITHIN only TWO years.
AoT president Chotisak Asapaviriya said earlier that traffic through Bangkok would reach 42 million passengers this year.
Mr Chotisak is keen to complete a passenger terminal for low-cost carriers (LCCs), with usable space of 20,000 square metres, within 16 months at an estimated cost of 800 million baht.
The LCC terminal could handle 15 million passengers a year. It will also have a four-storey parking garage for 1,000 cars.
However, there has been no serious DISCUSSION at AoT of the original PLAN to build a mid-field terminal, a third runway and supporting facilities that would raise capacity to 54 million in 2011.
That plan, which would have cost 48 billion baht, was shelved by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra,
Under the original master plan, two subsequent expansions would ultimately lift capacity to 120 million passengers a year in 2026, while doubling cargo-handling capacity to 6.4 million tonnes.
"Suvarnabhumi has the potential to become a world class facility. Operational effectiveness and cost efficiency will be critical in ensuring the success of Suvarnabhumi as an aviation hub in Asia," said IATA's Mr Tjoeng. "AoT needs to fulfill the commitment of engaging airlines in meaningful and effective consultations, particularly on a long-term charges structure that will make Bangkok cost-efficient, and provide financial certainty for both airlines and the airport."
Mr Tjoeng also warned that across-the-board increase in charges by AoT and navigation fees by Aeronautical Radio of Thailand (Aerothai) would have an adverse impact on the profitability and viability of airlines operating in Bangkok, and on future traffic growth.
"No one airport can truly CALL itself the aviation hub of Southeast Asia. Over the years, both Bangkok and Singapore have established themselves as hubs in the REGION , and it is likely that both will continue to be the more established hubs, even after the opening of Suvarnabhumi Airport," he said. "Both airports have their own strengths - Bangkok is well placed geographically while Singapore has an efficient, world-class facility."
Mr Harbison of Cepa said Changi in Singapore and Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) were already adding significant capacity ahead of demand, which will raise the competitive stakes with Bangkok and other major airports in the region.
Changi this MONTH completed a US$150-million upgrade of Terminal 2, the first major overhaul since it opened in 1990.
"Bangkok may have a new airport, but the competition in the years ahead will be intense," he ADDED