Thai Airways moves equipment back to Don Muang
Thai Airways moves equipment to Don Muang
BANGKOK: — Only one week before domestic flights are to resume service at Bangkok’s former Don Muang Airport, Thai Airways International (THAI) Sunday began moving some of its ground service equipment from the new Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Led by a police motorcade, the airline spent almost two hours in moving equipment loaded on 27 trailers and two crane trucks from Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok’s neighboring province of Samut Prakan to Don Muang.
On March 24, or only one-day before commercial domestic direct flights resume at Don Muang, THAI will move smaller equipment including passenger transport vehicles and luggage handling equipment to Don Muang.
THAI, along with three other domestic commercial airlines including Nok Air, One-Two-Go and Orient Thai, will resume their services at Don Muang to facilitate repairs of damaged sections of the runways and taxiways at Suvarnabhumi Airport which began full operations on September 28 last year.
There are over 100 cracks in the runways and taxiways at the new airport.
Reopening Don Muang, closed since the debut of Suvarnabhumi Airport, is intended to ease congestion while mounting problems are addressed at the new airport, according to Thai transport authorities.
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Don Muang Airport reopens
DON MUANG: — Bangkok’s nearly century-old Don Muang airport reopened to domestic flights Sunday to ease the crowds at the city’s troubled new airport, authorities said.
Don Muang was one of Asia’s busiest hubs until it was shuttered in September, following the opening of the sparkling new Suvarnabhumi Airport.
Some 140 flights carrying 20,000 passengers daily are now set to use the airport, beloved by many for its quirks — including a golf course between the main runways — and its relatively easy access to downtown Bangkok.
The revived airport’s first flight took off for flag carrier Thai Airways at 6:00 am for the northeastern city of Ubon Ratchathani, an airline spokesman said.
A sign draped across the check-in counters read: “Welcome back to Don Muang.”
“Don Muang has reopened and is running smoothly,” said a spokeswoman.
Thai Airways is keeping some flights to popular tourist destinations like Phuket and Chiang Mai at Suvarnabhumi in hopes of minimising inconvenience to the more than 13 million holidaymakers who visit Thailand each year.
Two other airlines, low-cost carriers Nok Airways and One-Two-Go, have moved their flights to Don Muang but international carriers have refused to leave Suvarnabhumi.
Don Muang had been shuttered six months ago as officials hoped Suvarnabhumi would establish Bangkok as Southeast Asia’s preeminent air hub.
Instead, the three-billion-dollar facility has been plagued by problems from cracks in the runways to complaints about safety and sanitation.
Officials say that moving domestic flights to the old airport will ease overcrowding at Suvarnabhumi and make it easier to repair the runways and fix other problems.