Don Mueang airport news & events

[halfway inn]

Bangkok's Don Mueang airport readies for floods

BANGKOK: -- Bangkok’s second largest airport Don Mueang, used by a number of low-cost airlines including Airasia, said on October 5 it has finished building flood walls and strengthening its internal water management system equipped with pumps to be prepared for possible flooding in the coming weeks.

A 13-kilometer flood wall, built with help from the Royal Thai Air Force, would prevent water from outside from entering the site, said Chaturongkapon Sodmanee, the airport’s general manager.

If flooding does occur inside the airport, it has 12 pumping stations with 37 pumps that have a combined capacity of pumping 48,000 cubic meters of water per hour.

 The Royal Thai Air Force also has another six pumps with a capacity to discharge 26,000 cubic meters per hour.

As well, the airport also has an internal pond with capacity to accept up to 1.2 million cubic meters of water.

 Officials are confident that with such preparation, the airport will be able to provide services to passengers without any interruption.

The airport was hard hit during the great flood in October and November 2011 with water covering the ground and damaging many aircrafts.

 Some had to be retired from service, abandoned or sold for scrap.

08-10-13
investvine

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Rwandan woman arrested at airport with 2kg of 'ice'



BANGKOK: -- A RWANDAN woman was arrested at Don Mueang Airport on Saturday night for allegedly smuggling two kilograms of crystal methamphetamine, known as "ice", into the country.

Prasong Predpring, director of Don Mueang customs centre, identified the suspect as Christine Nsabimana, 31, who flew to Bangkok from Macau on an AirAsia flight.

She arrived at the airport at about 11pm, but was acting suspiciously, immigration officers said.

Officials demanded to search her luggage and discovered it had a false bottom in which 2kg of crystal methamphetamine were hidden, in three plastic bags.

Prasong quoted the suspect as claiming that the drugs were smuggled from China. She said that once the illicit stash was smuggled into Thailand, a person would contact her to pick it up.

Closer examination of her passport revealed that she had travelled to many countries in African and also to Hong Kong.

It was the first time that she had travelled to Thailand.

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Capsule hotel planned at Don Mueang Airport



Bangkok's century-old Don Mueang airport will have a 20-room capsule hotel and Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT) is calling bids to find the operator.

AOT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said the hotel would be opened on the fourth floor of Terminal 2 and that there would also be shops, restaurants and commercial banks on the same floor.

The 20-unit capsule hotel would accommodate travelers who want to stay overnight to wait for early-morning flights, he said.

He expected the hotel to receive a warm welcome.

First developed in Japan, capsule hotels offer small cheap accommodation in small sleeping cubicles for people who don't require the services of a conventional hotel.

The hotel would occupy four or five slots of commercial space on the fourth floor of Terminal 2.

AOT has allocated about 10,000 square meters of space or 400 slots in all for commercial purposes.

It has selected tenants for 95% of the space so far.

Shops and restaurants run by about 100 operators would occupy about half of the area, Mr Nitinai said.

Terminal 2 reopened on Thursday after renovations.

It serves passengers on domestic flights which account for about 70% of all passengers at Don Mueang airport.

The reopening of the renovated terminal was aimed at relieving the congestion at Terminal 1 which now serves international flights.

Passenger traffic at Don Mueang in the 12 months to Sept 30 surged 48% to 28.58 million.

The airport is now the busiest low-cost carrier airport in Southeast Asia.

AOT expects its yearly revenue to increase from 46 billion baht in fiscal 2015 to 54 billion in fiscal 2016, Mr Nitinai said.



26 December 2015
Bangkok post