Flights at Suvarnabhumi Airport delayed as repairs of cracks continue
Many flights to and from Suvarnabhumi Airport were delayed Thursday following closing of some taxiways and runways to repair the cracks.
THAI Flights from Singapore and Hong Kong had to change direction and land at U Tapao airport in Chon Buri province before flying back to Suvarnabhumi Airport as their gas were running out after circling at the airport for long time.
The main reason was because the airport authorities have closed western taxiways and runways of the airport to repair the cracks, making the all coming aircraft to land at the eastern runways. These resulted in the congestion of the aircraft wishing to land.
Thai Airways International said that there were two THAI flights from Singapore and Hong Kong that had to circling at the airport to wait for their turns to land had to fly and land at U-Tapao Airport in Chon Buri as they were running out of gas. They then flew to the new airport to land.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister Theera Haocharoen accompanied Gen Saprang Kalayanamitr, the Council for National Security (CNS) secretary in his behalf as board chairman of the Airports of Thailand, to inspect runways and taxi-ways at the new airport.
The inspection covered troubled spots on the taxiways where the surface have either cracked or subsided. The taxiway was closed for repair.
More problems concern the bridges linking boarding gates to aircraft. As some aircraft needed to take detour to avoid the troubled taxiway spots, only 40 of 51 bridges could be used to service passengers, adding to traffic operational headache.
"Some airlines are concerned about safety and they avoided the troubled taxiway areas, although some spots have bee repaired and ready for use," said Theera.
The Nation
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