Suvarnabhumi international airport has not brought only headaches to passengers, which has also led to the sinking in the international ranks for customer satisfaction, but also to airlines such as Thai AirAsia.
Skytrax’s World Airport Awards survey showed that Suvarnabhumi airport was ranked 25th _ down from 13th place last year and 10th in 2010. The levels of customer satisfaction also dropped from 5th to 7th position in the subcategory of Airport by Size (over 40 million passengers a year), according to the Airports Council International’s Airport Service Quality (ASQ) awards in 2011.
There are also many umbrellas of airlines at check-in and ticket-selling counters. The atmosphere is like an open-air flea market where big umbrellas are needed to give shade. And to make bad situations worse, some airlines _ namely AirAsia _ has trainees walk around their check-in counter area to shout out for passengers who are about to miss their flights because the check-in counter is about to close. The high-pitched voice really hurts the ears, don’t they know?
For the airlines, on the other hand, the overcrowded airport _ which is predicted to receive some 51 million visitors this year, surpassing its 45 million capacity _ also poses many problems. AoT admitted that they do not have enough space for airlines to expand their fleets, and they wanted to move “point-to-point” airlines, such as low-cost carriers, to Don Mueang airport (with the finger pointed at AirAsia, whose growth is proving too much for Suvarnabhumi airport).
“The airline has about six million passengers a year. If they move to Don Mueang airport, it will be more convenient. Then they can expand their services as they plan to grow their business to 11 million passengers this year,” said executive vice-president and deputy general manager of Suvarnabhumi airport, Narongchai Tanadchangsaeng.
“We [are not trying to] force anyone to move to Don Mueang airport. We only suggest they move. It is voluntary. If AirAsia moves, then we can handle the 40-plus million passengers a year [at Suvarnabhumi airport]. If they don’t move, however, they might have problems, such as flight delays, and they won’t be able to expand their business. By all means, it’s their choice,” he noted.
Suvarnabhumi airport, which has failed to manage its business capacity so far, has yet to construct new facilities for the expansion. The foundation pillar of the second phase has not yet been seen, but the AoT expects to complete the second phase of construction within five years. (Sadly, they advertised the project for the past couple of years without progress).
“AirAsia can move their services back [to Suvarnabhumi airport] when we’ve finished the second phase, which is scheduled for 2017. The additional facilities will be able to handle up to 65 million passengers a year,” he said.
