BANGKOK'S DON MUANG AIRPORT TO REOPEN FOR SOME

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 000592 SIPDIS SIPDIS SINGAPORE FOR FAA E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2017 TAGS: EAIR TH SUBJECT: BANGKOK'S DON MUANG AIRPORT TO REOPEN FOR SOME DOMESTIC FIGHTS REF: BANGKOK 548 Classified By: Amb. Ralph L. Boyce for reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: On January 29 the Thai Ministry of Transportation announced plans to reopen Bangkok's old Don Muang airport for commercial traffic. Airlines operating domestic flights will be invited to move operations back to Don Muang on a voluntary basis. The new policy will result in only a portion of Bangkok's air traffic being transferred. If an investigation into tarmac cracking at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport (SA) reveals safety hazards for flight operations, however, a much larger move could be in the cards. End Summary. ¶2. (U) On January 29 the Thai Ministry of Transportation (MOT),following meetings with officials from the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) and Airports of Thailand (AOT), announced that Bangkok's old Don Muang airport would be reopened for commercial flights. Airlines will be invited to transfer only domestic flights without international connections back to the old airport. MOT stated that it expects the move will result in a 30% reduction in traffic at SA, which is already nearing its design capacity of 45m passengers per year. ¶3. (U) Immediately after the announcement, few airlines have definite plans regarding moving back to Don Muang. One official at Thai Airways International (THAI) noted that the policy to reopen the old airport must still be approved by the Cabinet, which will not happen until at least next week. To date only three airlines are expected to transfer flights to Don Muang: THAI, Nok Air, and Thai Orient Air. Thai expects to move most of their domestic flights with no international connections to Don Muang. THAI plans to institute a shuttle service between the two airports, which will be free for THAI and Nok Air passengers. ¶4. (U) Nok Air is effectively the low-cost arm of THAI. With THAI as the major shareholder, Nok operates as a brother airline to THAI. Officials at THAI expected Nok to also move to Don Muang. Since Nok Air operates exclusively domestically, a large portion of its flights can be expected to move, although Nok officials could not be reached directly for confirmation. ¶5. (U) Thai Orient Air, which operates the budget carrier One-Two-Go, plans to transfer 50-60% of its flights to Don Muang. With a total 180 weekly flights, this will mean that 90-100 flights per week will move to Don Muang. Although the MOT announced only a temporary reopening, one Thai Orient official believed that the move would ultimately become permanent, with Don Muang becoming Bangkok's designated domestic terminal. The same official noted that Thai Orient was not experiencing the crowding at SA that features prominently in the press. He also noted that SA was plagued by poor management, citing this as one reason for moving back to Don Muang (despite the fact that AOT manages both airports). ¶6. (U) In contrast, Thai Air Asia has stated that it does not plan to transfer any flights out of Suvarnabhumi. Airline spokesmen noted that the budget carrier operates many international routes and does not want to require passengers to transfer between the two airports. ¶7. (U) The opening of Suvarnabhumi has brought with it higher fees for the airlines using the airport than were charged at Don Muang. Some budget airlines have long expressed the desire to operate out of the old airport to increase their cost competitiveness, as noted in reftel. For these carriers the problems afflicting SA may be an excuse to reopen the old airport. ¶8. (U) Ultimately it is the structural soundness of the new airport that will determine the full extent of transfers back to Don Muang. SA has been plagued by failure since opening in September 2006 (reftel). To date none of the failures have compromised safety, although they have impacted efficiency and have resulted in numerous inconveniences. Questions remain about the quality of construction and the rush to complete the airport, and it is not yet possible to definitively say that further deterioration could result in safety hazards. ¶9. (C) On Sunday, January 28, General Saphrang Kalaynamit, Assistant Commander in Chief of the Royal Thai Army, a member BANGKOK 00000592 002 OF 002 of the Committee for National Security, and the Chairman of the board of AOT told an Embassy contact that the overriding issue for SA is the safety of the airport for all passengers. He stated that the Ministry of Transportation would take core samples to TEST the structural quality of the soil and foundations of the runways. According to Saphrang, if it is found that the construction constitutes a safety hazard for flight operations he will order SA closed with all flights returning to Don Muang until satisfactory repairs are made. Thus far the airport breakdowns have not affected operational safety; only a full investigation will show if the construction problems are likely to produce safety hazards in the future. ¶10. (U) Comment. Although THAI expects to move the majority of its domestic-only traffic back Don Muang, it is not clear if the reopening of the old airport will produce the 30% traffic reduction predicted by the MOT. With the new policy not yet officially enacted, and some airlines not yet decided on transferring flights, the extent of the overall impact remains unclear. The biggest variable remains the physical condition of the new airport. No one wants to face the massive disruptions that a wholesale return to Don Muang would entail, but if Saphrang is to be believed, and if investigations show sufficient safety hazard at Suvarnabhumi, that may be exactly what the future holds. The disruptions, costs, and bad publicity that would come with such a transfer would ultimately pale in comparison with a later forced transfer should an airport structural failure result in a major disaster. BOYCE