Future Don Muang Airport plan finalised

BANGKOK, Dec 28 (TNA) - Don Muang Airport, recently decommissioned as Thailand's primary international airport, will be turned into a regional aircraft maintenance and civil aviation training centre, according to an official responsible for drawing up a development plan for Bangkok's former international airport.

Boonrit Saowaprurk, director of the Civil Aviation Training Centre, said that the plan would see Don Muang Airport emerge as the region's aircraft maintenance hub within the next four years, rivalling Singapore. It hopes to gain up to a quarter of the market, sharing Bt5 billion revenue (US$138.8 million).

If the plan is approved by the transport ministry, Mr. Boonrit said, work would start immediately on the south of the runways to build a large aircraft maintenance facility. This would involve an investment outlay of Bt600-700 million (US$19 million).

He expressed confidence that with Thailand's geographical advantage as the centre in the Southeast Asian mainland, the new facility would win over businesses from Singapore, currently the regional hub for commercial aircraft maintenance business.

"Globally, aircraft servicing is worth over Bt 500 billion. Singapore currently has about a fifth of that market. If we can share about a quarter of that, it would be worth Bt25 billion (US$694 million)," Mr. Boonrit told reporters.
According to the plan, the domestic terminal would be developed into a civil aviation training centre while the two international terminals would be left unchanged in case the government decided to make use of the retired airport in the future.

In October, a month after commercial flights moved to Suvarnabhumi Airport, the National Economic and Social Advisory Council suggested that Don Muang Airport could further serve the aviation industry, including being a locus for chartered flights and that the airport could become an aircraft maintenance centre for Thailand and as a hub for providing spare aircraft parts.

Aviation Department director-general Chaisak Angkasuwan earlier rejected a plea by budget air carriers to return their operations to Don Muang, saying that the move would double the overhead expenses in keeping both airports in operation simultaneously.

The region's low-cost airlines are reported to be unhappy with the higher costs they are encountering at the new Bangkok airport, in particular the fees for parking aircraft.

TNA