I don't think that it's time to get too hyped up about the move to the new airport. As it stands right now, NONE of the major international carriers (BA, KLM, NWA, etc) have agreed to fly ANY of their planes into the new airport because of the dangers involved in flying there:
1. The bird population was never moved. Whenever you open a new airport, you need to "move" the bird population in order to avoid bird strikes. This has never been done. Since the new airport is built on a swamp there are (by airline estimations) thousands of birds living within a few metres of the runways.
2. The runways are not safe. The "authorities" who built the runways were paid of top quality tarmac but used in ONLY in front of the terminals. As you go down the runways, they used cheaper quality which is NOT expected to be able to stand up to the weight of planes landing and taking off. You've already seen pictures in the BKK Post of the cracks in the tarmac. These problems have NOT been fixed.
3. The runways are currently sinking back into the swamp. Sad, but true.
4. The Airport Authority of Thailand has refused to allow any of the major international carriers access into the new terminals. It can take up to six months to completely set up an airline's computer system, baggage system, etc and be ready for operation. According to the Caretaker "Prime Minister" the new airport will be opened on 28 September. That's just 3 months from now.
5. Virtually ALL foreign architectual, construction and engineering firms are bailing out as quickly as possible.....BEFORE the place opens up. They're all well aware of the problems and don't want to have their firms' names attached to anything that all of them are considering a "disaster waiting to happen".
6. According to a friend of mine's husband (whose firm is in charge of overseeing construction) "Plane crashes are absolutely inevitible IF this new airport is allowed to open." His firm has allerted the AOT on more occasions than he can count about more problems than he can list and each and every time, absolutely NOTHING has been done about any of his firm's recommendations. As it stands right now, he's closing up shop here and getting the hell out of the country.
Now, I don't like to be a nay-sayer, but my friend's husband has made me promise that, whenever I leave Thailand, I'll take the train to ANYWHERE and then fly from there.
And, please don't think that I'm any kind of authority on airport safety....I'm only reporting what I've heard.
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