Six months after Bangkok's Don Muang airport shut to commercial flights and was replaced as Thailand's main gateway by the new Suvarnabhumi airport, the old facility is being reopened.
Thailand's Cabinet approved in February the reopening of the airport after much political manoeuvring by those in favour of it. The government also surprised industry observers by allowing Don Muang to reopen to both domestic and international flights, although in the near term it looks like only some domestic flights will operate there.
Don Muang closed in September and bad publicity has surrounded Suvarnabhumi since its opening, which came just days after a coup that ousted the government of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Problems have included cracks on runways and taxiways, complaints that not all facilities were ready and complaints that the airport is already nearing its design capacity as a result of poor planning.
The government says transferring some flights back to Don Muang will ease the burden on Suvarnabhumi and enable repairs to be completed more smoothly. Thaksin supporters say the new government's efforts to repeatedly highlight problems at Suvarnabhumi are intended to further discredit him.
Thai Airways International's low-cost associate carrier Nok Air was the first to announce it will be transferring operations back to Don Muang in late March. But at least initially it will operate planned international services from Suvarnabhumi. Nok plans to launch its first international service, to Bangalore in India, in May.
Meanwhile, Thai Airways and Orient Thai, which operates as One-Two-Go, have said they will transfer some domestic operations back but most carriers are expected to stay at Suvarnabhumi.
The Star Alliance says its member carriers, including Thai Airways, will continue to use Suvarnabhumi, explaining that moving to Don Muang could "potentially disrupt connections" for passengers through Bangkok. IATA also has expressed opposition to having two airports serving the Thai capital.
Source: Airline Business
