Has Suvarnabhumi reached a crisis point?
Tattler by Thai Hospitality Blog
Finally, some real news in regard to Suvarnabhumi and it’s too bad that it’s not good. It seems that the International Air Transport Association, the body that regulates all international airports in the world, has been in touch with the Thai government very recently and presented them with something of an ultimatum: either present a plan to fix the problems at the airport or have the airport’s safety standard lowered. This is serious stuff because if the safety standard is lowered then international airlines will almost certainly refuse to land at Suvarnabhumi. They will be forced to either move their operations back to Don Muang or move to another regional airport like Singapore. This information was given to us by a source in the U.S. who is knowledgable in airline circles, and not only is he aware of this news but also people at Boeing Aircraft.
I've been wondering why there hasn't been much news out of the airport lately.
4 comments:
I have a hard time believing this. For one, I don't see how a leak at Boeing can be a reliable source? Boeing makes airplanes, it doesn't operate them. Airlines and engine manufacturers do. And how many airlines have complained about safety at Suvarnabhumi? None. In fact, every news source I've read so far that mentions airline response says that airlines say that Suvarnabhumi is completely safe.
If there was any risk at Suvarnabhumi, or any chance that airlines might have to take drastic and expensive measures like moving their operations to Don Muang or Singapore, wouldn't the airlines be the first to squeal?
The article speculates that there is a cover up. While this isn't impossible, I really don't think that with an axe murderer like Saprang Kalayanamitr as Chairman of the Board, anybody would be able to keep anything under the carpet for long. Don't forget that he's already purged the top management, including the President, the head of Suvarnabhumi, and the head of Commercial Operations. How many more heads have to roll until somebody admits to wrongdoing or invents something just to please the general in charge?
I think this is all just a political game and idle speculation.
I agree some random dude at Boeing probably has no clue what is going on.
And, you are right, no airlines have complained publically.
But you have to wonder why there has been a virtual news black out recently.
And the axe murderer is taking luxury trips all over Europe.
There is something fishy going on.
Also, you may not agree, but I think it may actually be easier to cover up Saprang's mismanagement.
Remember a lot of the airport fiasco news came out to justify ousting Thaksin. And the anti-Thaksin media was happy to oblige blaming him for everything.
But now that all of Thaksin's boys are gone, there is nobody else to blame but Saprang.
And we know how gets when he is blamed. He gets cranky, nasty and vindictive.
There was a very detailed report in the Bangkok Post today by the Dean of the School of Engineering at the AIT (See here). The english isn't very good, but it is otherwise well written.
He concludes that from the technical side, it is quite difficult to figure out who or what is the root cause of the water seepage problem. He does, however, point his finger clearly at the top AOT management for refusing to do anything to repair the problems, thus causing things to get worse.
I agree with Patiwat. Ultimately the buck stops with AOT.
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