Airport repairs halted until investigation ends

By Amornrat Mahitthirook and Surasak Glahan

Repairs to the runway and taxiway cracks at Suvarnabhumi have been put on hold until a thorough investigation by the board of the Airports of Thailand Plc into the cause of the cracks is completed.

Designiated chief investigator Tortrakul Yomnak said on Tuesday the repair halt is to prevent faulty repair methods from being employed and to protect visiting aircraft.

Mr Tortrakul, an AoT board member, heads the official investigative committee of experts which must find the exact cause of the cracks that have appeared on the runways and taxiways of the four-month-old airport.

The probe includes the boring of soil 30 metres deep under the runways and taxiways to collect samples of their foundations. The boring will tell the physical aspect of the soil under the airport, the construction of runways and taxiways and their subsidence level. Damaged areas have been sealed off.

The Tortrakul panel, set up by AoT chairman Gen Saprang Kalayanamitr, was formed on Jan 23 and must conclude its investigation by Feb 9.

Suvarnabhumi airport director Somchai Sawasdeepol has ordered a separate investigation into the partial and abrupt closure of the western runway last Thursday, which caused the diversion of four flights to U-tapao airport on that day.

He said neither he nor the other executives were notified of its closure in advance.

An initial inquiry found that a pilot of Thai AirAsia had informed air traffic controllers of dangerous objects that could compromise flight safety on the southern end of the western runway, Mr Somchai said.

Airport flight safety officials then inspected the site and had air traffic control inform other pilots of the need to close one end of the runway. The runway was partially closed at 2pm when Transport Minister Theera Haocharoen and his delegation were inspecting cracks on taxiways at the airport.

Large carriers could then only use the eastern runway and four of the visiting flights were asked to land at U-tapao airport for refuelling. Mr Somchai has asked his deputy and engineer Chat Hanpatananant to head the investigation.

An AoT source believes that Thursday's partial closure of the runway was unnecessary and it could be an attempt to divert attention from the AoT board's investigation into alleged irregularities by the AoT management.

However, Passakorn Surapipit, Suvarnabhumi's security chief, confirmed that safety officials had followed normal procedures by first inspecting the runway and then ordering its partial closure last Thursday because it was considered essential.

The chief executive officer of Thai AirAsia Tassapon Bijleveld has not been able to confirm whether the pilot who had informed traffic controllers about the need to close the runway was indeed an AirAsia pilot, but said the AoT should not ignore the issue in its investigation.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has denied responsibility for the problems that have cropped up at Suvarnabhumi airport, saying there is an attempt to discredit him and his government by linking them to the problems, according to his lawyer, Noppadon Pattama.

Mr Noppadon said yesterday that he had talked to the deposed premier who was concerned that the airport's problems were been used for political gain.

"The problems could be a political responsibility of Mr Thaksin and his government. But the contractors who built the substandard runways, taxiways or the water pipelines and those who hired them should be the ones held directly responsible for the problems," he said.

"Isn't it too much to force the former premier to take responsibility for the pipeline leakage at the airport?" he said.

Bangkok Post
Wednesday January 31, 2007