mussel
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Here's NY Times report on Suvarnabhumi:
December 24, 2006
JOURNEYS: THAILAND; In Bangkok, a Rough Start for New Airport
By THOMAS FULLER; UAMDAO NOIKORN CONTRIBUTED REPORTING FROM BANGKOK.
FROM a distance it's a shimmering edifice that rises above the surrounding flatlands like a giant space pod, a prime candidate for the cover of an architecture magazine.
But don't look too closely. Nearly three months after opening, the bare concrete walls of the sprawling terminal appear unfinished, the arrival hall is chronically overcrowded, and workers are busy fixing cracks in the tarmac.
These are only a few of the problems and complaints that have emerged at Suvarnabhumi airport, which after four decades of debate, planning and construction opened on Sept. 28 and was supposed to assure Bangkok's aspirations to be the pre-eminent air hub in Southeast Asia.
''I hear so many complaints from my clients I don't know where to begin,'' said Onsuma Prompong, 38, the owner of the Tour Agency Travel Corner in Bangkok. The most common gripes, she said, were the crowding and delays during check-in and ''this marathon walk passengers have to endure when they're trying to reach the plane.''
''Dirty toilets are also a big concern,'' she said. That is, when travelers can find a toilet.
Not long after the airport opened, complaints about a dearth of bathrooms prompted the second most powerful man in Thailand's military-appointed government, Pridiyathorn Devakula, the deputy prime minister, to order the airport authority to tear down offices and install more toilets.
''It has been under constant criticism since the day it came into operations,'' Mr. Pridiyathorn said. Suvarnabhumi airport replaced the workmanlike and time-worn Don Muang airport, which is now used mainly by the government and which had the unforgettable quirk of a golf course between two runways.
Raveewan Netarakawesana, director of public relations for the Airports Authority of Thailand, which oversaw the construction of the new airport, says her office has received a litany of gripes about Suvarnabhumi: ''inadequate and ambiguous signs,'' overcrowding, faulty air-conditioning, lack of seats at the departure areas and the ''naked-looking concrete, paintless columns, walls and structures.''
Every new airport, especially one as big as Suvarnabhumi, which says it has the world's largest single terminal and handles about 100,000 people a day, has teething problems.
But although some are being addressed, other problems will be harder to fix, such as the overcrowding, which Ms. Raveewan described as a ''structural restriction resulting from the design.'' During peak hours, the two check-in lines for Thai Airways are the length of a football field, something that rarely happened at the old airport, which had separate counters for each flight.
Cracks in the tarmac are being patched, but they may reappear when the rainy season hits again, sometime around June or July. Suvarnabhumi, which means golden land, was built in what used to be wetlands. The area was previously known as ''cobra swamp,'' a name that was deemed inauspicious and was changed. And although the land was drained and filled, the airport has had trouble with water accumulation, Ms. Raveewan said.
Inside the terminal, the airport authority has earmarked 40 million baht, just over $1 million, to build 20 new bathrooms, with 205 toilets, 118 urinals and 248 new wash basins. Some of the current wash basins may have to be replaced, too. They are poorly designed and water splashes onto the floor, creating full-time employment for janitors, who mop the floor every few minutes.
Not everyone is disappointed by the new airport. Suvarnabhumi has become a tourist attraction for Thai families who picnic beside one of the main runways on weekends and watch aircraft taking off and landing beside an airport complex so huge it resembles a small city. Taxi drivers also like the new airport and not only because they get higher fares. Suvarnabhumi is connected to central Bangkok by a number of highways, so the trip is less afflicted by the traffic jams that sometimes blocked access to the old airport. During off-peak hours, the airport is more manageable and some travelers report a problem-free experience.
BUT the complaint most often heard about Suvarnabhumi is that it is more pretty than practical. One particularly nagging problem is that, despite the size and number of parking gates at the main terminal, passengers are often asked to disembark onto buses that ferry them to the building.
''It's the last thing you expect to have with such a huge airport that claims to live up to a regional standard,'' said Janthana Samleerangkul, 35, a travel agent in Bangkok.
Alex Temander, 29, a jewelry designer, who recently flew out of the airport to Phnom Penh, disembarked onto a shuttle bus instead of walking straight off the plane and into the terminal. She also complained of a lack of automated teller machines, long lines at the foreign exchange booth and a general lack of signs. The airport, she said, was more difficult to use than more established facilities around the region.
''It's a great design on the outside, but it doesn't measure up to Hong Kong or Singapore airport and should be more customer-serviced,'' Ms. Temander said.
The old airport, Don Muang, was not pretty -- downright gritty in some places -- but some frequent fliers are now reporting pangs of nostalgia. ''It's annoying when you think that the old airport was better even though it was smaller, older and not as high-tech,'' said Noppawan Rakruam, 42, a freelance writer based in Bangkok.
The airport authority has blamed the rush to completion for the problems at the new airport. After a series of delays, the government of Thaksin Shinawatra ordered that the airport open in September. Mr. Thaksin was deposed in a bloodless coup on Sept. 19, but the military officers who took over the country decreed that the airport should open according to schedule on Sept. 28, a date that officials complain was several months too early.
''It's undeniable that the problems resulted from the decision to open the airport too soon, when it was not ready,'' said the president of the airport authority, Chotisak Asapaviriya, The Bangkok Post reported.
Yet many of the problems, including the lack of bathrooms and the overcrowding, seem to stem from design flaws more than hurried construction.
Mr. Pridiyathorn, the deputy prime minister, asked that the airport authority focus on improving the airport before turning to expansion plans, plans that would more than double capacity from the current 45 million passengers a year.
The hope, passengers said, was that the expansion did not mean even bigger crowds and even longer walks.
''In general, it's a very nice airport,'' said Angus Hain, 36, an English teacher who recently flew from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City. ''But an airport is an airport. What makes a good airport is that you can get through as quickly as possible.''
February 18, 2007
In Transit
Some Flights to Shift to Old Bangkok Airport
By JENNIFER CONLIN
Problems at Bangkok's new $3.8 billion international airport have gone from bad to worse to horrific. Suvarnabhumi Airport opened in September but has had problems with overcrowding, baggage delays and check-ins. Now there are cracks in the runways. So plans are under way to expand use of the old Don Muang airport, right, by the end of March. (The Thai Government was expected to decide last week whether Suvarnabhumi would be shut during the work. Legislators say it may be too risky to use the new airport during the runway repairs.)
On Feb. 6, the government announced plans to reopen a domestic and an international terminal at Don Muang, which has continued to handle charter and government flights. Thai Airways said it would shift most of its domestic flights to Don Muang.
