Airline News
AOC: Overcrowding endangers safe operations at Suvarnabhumi
October 23rd 2015
A group of 86 carriers and 26 aviation service providers, the Airline Operators Committee (AOC), is urging Thai authorities to impose an immediate ban on new flight schedules out of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi, as further “overcrowding” could result in accidents, the Bangkok Post has reported. Read More »
"Authorities should come to their senses and realise Suvarnabhumi can no longer accommodate more flights beyond the current level," AOC chairman, Louis Moser, told the daily.
Overcrowding has become a critical problem at the airport, one that is only bound to worsen with an additional 10% of flights operating out of Suvarnabhumi with the winter schedule taking effect this Sunday, which will see significant capacity and frequency increases from the Gulf carriers alone.
Suvarnabhumi has been operating beyond its design capacity of 45 million passengers annually for several years now. According to figures released by Airports of Thailand (AoT) last week, passengers passing through the airport set a new record of 52.4 million in fiscal 2015, which ended on September 30, up 12.7% year-on-year, and exceeding the facility’s design capacity by 17%. If AoT's projected 9.7% growth in 2016 was realised, passenger numbers would reach 70.9 million, making the congestion unbearable, Moser said.
Based on their experience, AOC members said the airport has exhausted its means to squeeze in more capacity. "Better slot management, double aircraft parking - you name it, they've done it," he said. "It's very stressful to ensure smooth, safe and sound services in such a hostile environment."
Banning newcomers and discouraging existing operators from adding more capacity and frequencies appears to be the only solution until Suvarnabhumi expands its facilities. To this end, the AoT board has approved the construction of a reserve runway and a new satellite terminal, worth a combined $1.3 billion, with the runway to be operating in 2017 and the terminal in 2019, at the earliest.
In May, former Thai transport minister, Prajin Juntong, now a deputy prime minister, suggested the country could restrict flights, saying rapid growth risked dangerously overloading airspace, as well as airport capacity. Prajin was quoted as saying, "there was not enough airspace to serve more flights. We need to think more seriously about safety and prevent possible aeroplane crashes."
Meanwhile, AoT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, discounted the industry committee’s suggestions that congestion at Suvarnabhumi had gotten out of hand. While he agreed the airport was busy, he told the Bangkok Post the 45-million-passenger-a-year capacity was only a reference figure based on the assumption that the airport ran at full capacity of 11,000 passengers an hour for three hours a day, with the remaining 21 hours handling 4,400 passengers an hour, he said. "So in theory, Suvarnabhumi could accommodate up to 300 million passengers a year, if pushed to the limit," Nitinai continued, adding there was too much concern about congestion and urged concerned parties to come up with specific areas where the issue needed to be addressed.
