TRAVELLER'S TALES

Incompetence or conspiracy ?

DON ROSS

A twist in the ongoing tale of the great trek back to Don Muang is that it could hand a golden opportunity to rival Changi Airport to claim premier gateway status to a variety of destinations in Thailand.

The proposed shift could leave Suvarnabhumi with connecting flights to just three domestic destinations; Phuket, Chiang Mai and Krabi. Changi already boasts connecting services from Singapore to Phuket, Krabi, Chiang Mai and Ubon Ratchathani.

If Bangkok Airways, all low-cost airlines and THAI go ahead with the transfer, Suvarnabhumi is in danger of slipping into second place behind Changi as a gateway airport to Thailand's domestic network. That's an interesting prospect for tourism.

It would take just a little tweaking of schedules between parent airline, Singapore Airlines, and its daughter companies Silk Air and Tiger to gain the lead for Changi. Then how long would we have to wait for a chamber of commerce or business association in the Northeast to claim that non-stop flights to Changi, Singapore, would boost tourism? They would argue that their towns would gain superb connectivity to a vast network of services to worldwide destinations and even their residents would escape the drudgery of a three-hour bus transfer between airports in Bangkok.

Marketing teams love to demonstrate how their airports tap passengers from neighbouring countries into a global network. Connectivity is the key. It appeals to airline customers. Once Thai airlines shift from Suvarnabhumi the new airport loses connectivity to Thailand's greatest asset; its array of domestic tourism destinations. THAI is about to give away that advantage due to political pressure and its inability to speak out and say: "There is no commercial sense is splitting operations at an airport that relies on connectivity."

Of course, the Ministry of Transport will play this down, claiming Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi airports can work as a team. Passengers will think differently. They will face a three-hour transfer through traffic jams to cover the 40-odd kilometres between two airports. They will be laden down with suitcases and exhausted after a long-haul flight from Japan, Australia, the US or Europe.

If, as the transport minister claims, passenger interests are the crucial factor in making a final decision, then no airlines move to Don Muang. Or they all move. Anything in between is a mismatch that will only confuse passengers and down grade tourism gateway aspirations. Comparisons with cities such as Berlin, London and Paris are redundant.

None of the arguments for having two airports apply, from a passenger perspective, as long as Bangkok cannot deliver an adequate public transport network.

THAI's president sees it differently. He intends to move all domestic services except flights to Phuket, Krabi and Chiang Mai.

There are just too many passengers connecting to these destinations from international flights, he tells us. You almost hear the sigh of relief from residents in those lucky provinces. But what of the fate of tourists travelling to other destinations or up-country residents who need to travel overseas? There will be some very unhappy passengers.

For example, approximately 30% of passengers boarding flights in the Northeast will connect with international services. In addition, there are reliable reports that state around 20% of domestic low-cost airline travellers connect with international flights in Bangkok, adding yet another layer of disgruntled passengers, who will ultimately look for alternatives.

Within months after the move back to Don Muang we will see domestic airline management scramble in retreat, possibly hurt by negative passenger response and declining revenue. It will take time, but passengers will begin to look at airports as well as airlines calculating the down time between connecting services and balancing this off against fares. If connectivity is king, then Changi Airport may be able to boast statistics that will show it has the edge in delivering more Thai destinations than any other airport in the region including Suvarnabhumi. Ouch, that's a slap in the face for a gateway dream? Or is the ministry thinking that the term tourism hub means more spokes to everywhere else in Asia, except home turf?

Here is a helpful hint from the minister on how to cope with Suvarnabhumi Airport's runway cracks. "Pilots will just have to dodge the debris until the cracks are fixed." That is something I had never thought of, but would love to witness. It smacks of the golden days of World War I aviation. An undefeated Red Baron dodges bullets and waves farewell to his British adversaries as they plummet to the earth in their flimsy biplanes.

All the drama and acrobats played out this time on the tarmac of Suvarnabhumi Airport. Can I buy a season ticket?

Pilots don't wear goggles anymore, but they would probably need a couple of rifle sights attached to their foreheads to even spot concrete debris. If they still have a joystick in the cockpit they could lunge it to the left and right sending a shiver through the fuselage. It would reassure passengers that the captain was wide awake and dodging.

How exciting; our 747 descends and then up we go in a kangaroo hop over a pile of debris, then we tuck to the left in a rugby style run for goal to avoid a mean crack, ready for the tackle, back to the centre, then another hop over rubble and straight down the centre line to win a try. Cheers from the passengers who are still sitting upright. And by the way all those little brown air sickness bags tucked neatly into the seat pocket board need replacing.

Then there is the even more daunting exercise - dodging debris on take-off.

There's a contract available in all of this talk of debris. A sweeping machine needs to be purchased at US$20 million a wheel. It could throttle up at the edge of the runway to sweep it clean in a similar fashion to a snow plough scattering hailstones all the way to the perimeter fence.

After the fanfare of opening the second Mekong River bridge that spans the banks between Mukdahan, northeast Thailand and Savannakhet, Laos, a ton of paper work dropped from the heavens.

Agreements to allow cars and trucks to cross needed to be signed and officials said it would take at least another three months to sort through the mess.

Travellers who were hoping to drive their own vehicles and head across Laos to enter the central region of Vietnam were told to wait until transport officials from Thailand and Laos signed off on the rules and regulations.

They are now done and dusted. Car owners can take their vehicles across if they have registration papers, appropriate insurance and there no outstanding instalments on the car.

There are a couple of quarks in the process at the checkpoints. It is still a two-stop shop experience and beware of the gone for lunch sign 12:00 to 13:00 hanging on the door at the Lao checkpoint. If you really need to disturb the siesta, officials levy a 50 baht overtime charge.

They provide a neat receipt and get back to their meal. There are no lunch break signs at the Thai side. Officials snack and work at the same time. Probably to ensure consistency they still present a 50 baht overtime fee.

Don Ross can be reached through this email address: info@ttreport.com

Bangkok Post
Friday February 02, 2007