Aviation policy back on track

EDITORIAL

The scream of jets taking off from Don Mueang airport this week officially marked the end of Bangkok's single-airport policy and provided the capital with a long-overdue low-cost carrier terminal for all budget and charter flights. It was a move welcomed by airlines and those who have endured the long queues and delays at Suvarnabhumi airport as the congested terminal struggled to cope.

But not everyone was celebrating. Some passengers complained about short-staffing at immigration desks, a gripe that had a familiar ring to it, while others bemoaned the shortage of shuttle buses running between the two airports. These are problems that need to be addressed before they become accepted practice.

There have also been understandably fewer smiles on the faces of those living in close proximity to Don Mueang airport. Gone is the peace and relative tranquility that followed the move to Suvarnabhumi in 2006, although residents will be spared the sleep disturbances, stress and noise pollution because of an absence of regular night take-offs and landings. Regrettably such irritants will continue to plague those living in housing estates around the main airport and can only get worse when the scheduled airport expansion takes place and the first of two additional runways becomes operational by 2018.

Residents of Bang Phli district of Samut Prakan, who see themselves as being directly affected by the new runways, last week warned of turbulence ahead if their concerns were ignored. While it is true that shifting the budget airlines to Don Mueang should cut present noise levels, a spokesman for the residents saw it as a double-edged sword. He says noise-affected residents expect the slots made vacant by the move of the low-cost carriers to be quickly utilised by regular airline and cargo traffic.They also see the planned additional runways as providing only temporary relief before they are used to capacity.

If that were to happen it would most probably be years away. In the meantime they have a breathing space with which to get involved in the consultative planning process. Theirs is a problem shared by millions of people around the world. It is the age-old dilemma of weighing the needs of the many against those of the few. Thailand needs the tourist dollar, it needs to export, it needs investment and business travel, it needs to be ready for Asean integration. To achieve all this it must have a proper gateway in the form of a fully functioning modern airport capable of handling hundreds of thousands of flights a year, without hindrance.

A wrangle over compensation has raged ever since the airport opened for business with Airports of Thailand (AoT) now claiming that all but 1,000 householders with incomplete documents have been adequately compensated. Homeowners dispute this. Negotiations have dragged on for years and continually stalled on technical arguments over the degree of inconvenience suffered.

Clearly the issue of the new runways must be better handled than this. If it is not, then the land and housing speculation in the years prior to the opening of the airport could be repeated. It would mean another uproar fuelled by those claiming to have been caught by surprise when their new housing estate turned out to be near the runways of an unbearably noisy airport, the initial plans for which were drawn up in 1962.

The saddest part of all this is that their shrill cries for more money often drown out the voices of those truly deserving citizens who were born where the new runways will be built. The time for AoT to start working on fair compensation for them is now.

Bangkok Post online classifieds

Try buying selling goods and properties 24/7 in our classifieds which has high purchasing power local expatriate audience from within Thailand and around the world.

Source: http://www.news.thethailandlinks.com/2012/10/06/aviation-policy-back-on-track/