The only airport in the world with its' own golf course to reopen??
 

Less than 4 months after opening the new BKK airport at Suvarnabhumi, Thai Airways are moving all but 3 of its' domestic routes back to Don Muang.. the old airport with the golf course between the 2 runways.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007...11.<br /> php
Bit of a pain flying into one and then having to trek accross to the other!

When I was last there (10 years ago) Palm Springs "International" Airport had a (very) short pitch and put course in one of the outdoor waiting areas. No mention of it on their website, so maybe it's no longer there. As I share Mark Twain's views on golf, I never made use of it.

As an aside, I admire the way many of the smaller US airports love to add an "International" to their title on the basis of one flight a day to Calgary/Acapulco when it's obvious that over 99% of their traffic is domestic.:ok:

Yes, it does look increasingly likely that Don Muang will re-open, although TG are balking at moving their flights there, as most have at least an opportunity for connecting internationally, which would be a pain in the neck. The locos, on the other hand are keen for it to happen. Of course it has not completely closed and still serves around 20 flights a day, with a small staff, and is still able to handle international traffic.
Many things that need to be fixed (such as adding toilets in the main concourse) can only be done by closing large areas, which is impossible at current utilisation levels. There are a myriad of other things that need to be fixed. It may even be necessary to rebuild certain parts of the structure, simply so they can be econmically maintained. The more Suvarnabhumi is looked into, the more they realise it should simply not have been opened when it was. The best thing would be to close the whole thing for a year and fix everything, but that isn't going to happen.

I believe HHN has quite a decent golf course ...

:8

http://www.bangkokpost.com/Business/16Jan2007_biz01.php

There is on-going discussion about this, but it looks like they are planning to reopen the domestic terminal. According to this, the airlines would need around a month to relocate back.

Don't be surprised if ALL TG flight move back to Don Muang. The problems of trying to move aircraft that service both domestic and international flights between 2 airports are too great.

Not sure if TG could entirely vacate Suvarnabhumi for political reasons. It would just be too embarassing.

However, there is the other point. The new aiport is quickly reaching capacity. It was opened with a nominal capacity of 45 million pax and existing volume in Don Muang of almost 40 million, but with growth rates of around 10% per year it will soon be stretched. It has a theoretical ultimate capacity of 100 million, but that would require quite a lot of upgrading before it could do that.

I guess it is going to take about a year to fix all the problems at Suvarnabhumi, during which time they will have to close sections of the airport to do it. At the end of that, the expected passenger throughput will be roughly its existing design capacity. Once the problems are fixed, they will have to immediately begin expansion work, which will entail closing sections of the airport to do it... :ugh:

Not too embarrassing with the correct spin. TG would save a fortune, possible even get a competitive advantage and be immune from all the future problems that this disaster is going to suffer.

I suspect a year is too conservative a timeframe to resolve all the issues. Come rainy season Suvarnabhumi will grind to a halt!!

Yup. A nine-hole across the street from the long-stay near the ULD repair shop.

Well, if we are including off-apron courses, then Cengareng at CGK qualifies, as it is only just round the corner, or maybe the SAFRA club at SIN. But I don't think any really qualify, as you don't have to drive or walk accross a runway to get to the clubhouse. :}

Airports with golf courses?

How about Abu Dhabi? It may be "only" a sand course but it is 18 holes with a good bar and friendly people. And it is only 5 mins from the airport terminal.

Look on google earth and you can even see the bushes sculpted to read ' Abu Dhabi Duty Free' behind the 18th tee!

That's very funny - thanks for that!

Don Muang to re-open, official
 

It's official now. The announcement that Don Muang will re-open and that Bangkok will henceforth have two international airports was made yesterday.

Now, this could all be part of the face-saving operation allowing them to close Suvarnabhumi for good later because the "restructuring there is proving bigger than expected". :)

Be that as it may, assuming the new airport remains open there will be big problems in transfering passengers between the two. The Skytrain will not be ready for a while and, in any case, it doesn't serve Don Muang. There is, however, a railway line that runs out to the new airport and another that runs past Don Muang. It shouldn't be impossible to link the two, buy some new rolloing stock, and create a quick and relatively inexpensive express link between the two.

The only other thought I had was departures from 21 at Don Muang conflicting with arrivals to 19 at Suvarnabhumi. I hope the ATC guys devote some serious though to that. At present, all departures from Don Muang (it's always remained active) seem to be turning right.

No brainer of a decision - Suvarnabhumi really wasn't clicking. I think I've been through about 10 times so far and ended up getting bussed to the gate on 3 occasions, but never could work out why - without realizing some of the the Taxiways were unusable and a few of the piers were unserviceable. It's going to be difficult for passengers making domestic connections.

I was astonished reading the earlier posts to learn that the airport had a capacity of around 40 million passengers / year. ICN, which I use a lot, has physically a much larger terminal building than BKK and has a current capacity of around 30 million. ICN is undergoing Phase 2 expansion to 44 million - but the difference is that ICN works and sadly BKK doesn't... Oh yes - and there's a Golf Driving Range by the ICN Hilton and a rather nice full coure down the road.