Suvarnabhumi Airport

[Denny Yen 0]

Introducing Thailand's newest airport, which underwent technical integration on 9/29. Thanks to markfuji for sneak peek.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larger and higher res pics at:

http://photo.thaiaviation.net/thumbnails.php?album=387

 

Find out more at:

http://www.suvarnabhumiairport.com/en/index.htm

[Y. J. Foo 0]

Awesome~~ looks very modern indeed, especially those glass-steel structures.

 

But I still prefer KLIA more

 

Anyway thanks alot for the pics!!

[Imran K. 0]

Nice Pictures! I cant wait for the airport to be operational. Forgive me for asking, but what will happen to Don Muang once Suvarnabhumi is operational?

 

Btw...the glass + steel structure resembles Dubai Airport in a way... Same architect perhaps...?

[Isaac 0]

WOW, very nice. I wonder what SV Choong think about the airport, well you know, an architect has a very strange taste

 

By the way, anybody knows what will happen to Don Muang ? I know they spent millions upgrading the international terminal in late 2002.

[Benjamin Ho 0]

what caught my attentin is the 4th photo. That is a network security camera, AXIS 205. I wonder why are they planting the security camera that low?

 

sorry, was from a company that distributes such cameras...

 

Ben-G

[Denny Yen 0]

Architect is a US partnership of Murphy/Jahn

Read more at:

http://www.airport-technology.com/projects/bangkok/

 

I think travellers welcome the new airport with improved facilities. When I was there at BKK mid-Sept, most waiting passengers noticed the urine smell around Don Muang's gate 53 (notwithstanding it was a relatively recent section). I suspect leakage into air-cond system is the cause.

[Denny Yen 0]

AXIS 5? Are these the ones with face-recognition software? Camera appears fized to immigration or baggage control desk.

[Ibrahim 0]

it the same architech who design Dubai Airport ??? look like the same design.. that silinder steel structure is what ??... ATC ?? what that palm tree.. Tamar kaah ??? But realy nice laaaa.. realy huge structure

Edited September 30, 2005 by Ibrahim

[H Azmal 0]

Isn't Suvarnabhumi the name past explorers gave to the Malayan peninsula?

[Sanjay Thaker 0]

Not bad looking..but dont u think KLIA stil gives a better brighter..and well spaced look..would be interesting to see the new airport opening anyway...with all those reported corruption..and problems they faced finally over..(or at least i hope so)

[Isaac 0]

Isn't Suvarnabhumi the name past explorers gave to the Malayan peninsula?

8771[/snapback]

Exactly

[TW Teo 0]

Don Muang would be a LCC airport the last I've heard...

 

I thought pic #6 was the maintenance hangar!

Edited September 30, 2005 by TW Teo

[Benjamin Ho 0]

Denny,

 

The camera manufacturer web site is www.axis.com. you can find more info on hardware and software for the camera there. As far as I know, there is no facial recognition software that uses that camera yet.

 

That specific model is suitable only for indoor and light surveillance, it is not meant to be used for surveillance at critical checkpoint due to the camera's limitation. I think that camera is basically a additional pair of eyes for the personnel posted there. I really do not know what that camera can see at that height.

 

Ben-G

Edited September 30, 2005 by Benjamin Ho

[S V Choong 4]

WOW, very nice. I wonder what SV Choong think about the airport, well you know, an architect has a very strange taste 

 

Just another airport, Isaac, the interior has nothing special to offer...... But the way the use the trusses looks alright! STILL PREFER OUR VERY OWN KLIA (no bias opinion here).

 

Survanabuhmi in Thai means the land of Gold! The word "buhmi" or "bumi" (as in Malay) must have been Indian in origin.

 

[Guest Fendy]

looks great, much better than don muang. horrible place.

[Jamie H 0]

looks like a big, modern looking factory doesnt it?.....from what i heard, it is out-of-this-world HUGE

 

however, the airport has been plagued by controversy after controversy:

 

source: http://news.airwise.com/story/view/1127902764.html

 

September 28, 2005

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra flies into Bangkok's new international airport on Thursday and into a storm of criticism about flawed planning, construction delays and allegations of corruption.

 

Thaksin's test flight -- with VIPs and reporters in tow -- is part of a carefully-staged "soft opening" of the futuristic multi billion Suvarnabhumi Airport, touted as Bangkok's answer to rival world-class airports in Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur.

 

Thaksin, his cabinet and guests will land at 9:19 a.m. (0219 GMT) on Thursday -- a most auspicious moment in astrologically-keen Buddhist Thailand.

 

"I am very confident that we will become the aviation hub" of Southeast Asia, Thaksin told reporters this week. But airline industry officials have serious questions about Suvarnabhumi before it opens in 2006 -- the government says June but experts say December is more likely -- with a capacity to handle 45 million passengers a year.

 

They point to potential problems in baggage handling and passenger screening that could delay travellers and a lack of space for retailers, a key source of revenue at other airports.

 

"We're putting up red flags. We're saying we need to meet. We need to discuss these things," said David Inglis, a senior official of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), an airline industry trade group. "We feel there are a lot of deficiencies to be addressed before the airport opens," he said.

 

Suvarnabhumi, Thai for "golden land" and built on a swamp 25 km (15 miles) east of the sprawling capital, is due to replace Bangkok's ageing Don Muang Airport and its congested single runway.

 

Covering 3,200 hectares (7,900 acres) and boasting the world's tallest control tower, Suvarnabhumi and its two runways -- a third is planned -- will be the largest of its kind in Asia.

 

IATA estimates the cost of the new airport at USD$5.6 billion.

 

With Thailand luring more than 10 million tourists a year and the number expected to rise despite the impact of last December's tsunami, most experts agree Don Muang's time had come.

 

But controversy has dogged the new airport, including allegations of corruption involving the purchase of 26 expensive bomb-sniffing scanners. The government has denied any wrongdoing.

 

Inglis said IATA was pressing for operational changes at Suvarnabhumi, which he said could rival Singapore's Changi and Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok, both among the best in the world.

 

But he said IATA had been unable to meet officials to highlight the industry's concerns. "It's unusual. We're assuming they want to build a world-class airport and we want to help them," he said.

 

Somchai Sawasdeepon, senior executive vice president of Airports of Thailand, said he had met the airlines several times. "The airport has nearly been completed and all airlines have got their place. So there is no need to meet now," he said.

 

Among IATA's concerns are that the 26 baggage scanners will not be able to handle all the luggage as planned. "Most flights will be delayed due to late arrival of baggage," Inglis said.

 

Passengers could also face long delays at the many checkpoints which IATA says could be streamlined without sacrificing security.

 

The airport's 51 gates, only five earmarked for the new superjumbo Airbus A380, will not be enough to handle the increased traffic, Inglis said.

 

He also worried about the lack of retail space at Suvarnabhumi, which is 50 percent less than Changi.

 

Shops and restaurants are key revenue earners for airports and reduce their reliance on landing fees charged to airlines at a time when the industry is losing billions of dollars. Many operators, already fuming at the fees charged at Don Muang, fear they will have to carry Suvarnabhumi's hefty bills.

 

"Who is going to pay for this airport?," Brian Sinclair-Thompson, who heads an association of airlines operating in Thailand, told the Foreign Correspondents Club on Wednesday.

 

"The authorities here see the airlines as the cash cow to fund this monstrosity," he said, complaining that his members often learn details about the airport's operations through the press despite repeated requests to airport authorities.

 

"We are a sick industry and any increase in charges we face will be passed onto the consumer," he said.

 

(Reuters)

 

[Denny Yen 0]

Ben:

 

Thanks for info. Just discovered that AXIS is Swedish co. I would have thought Taiwanese co. are the usual suspects as makers these kind of stuff. Most CMOS chips (for Sony, Nikon, Fuji) are made by Taiwanese OEM/ODMs.

 

FYI, the face-recognition CCTV system used by London Underground is stored in a central facility with 1 petabyte capacity (1,000,000,000,000,000 byte or 10 to the power of 15). The software's deduction is so good that it is accepted by the court as evidence in U.K. anti-terrorist trials.

[Benjamin Ho 0]

Seen those software before, here in Malaysia there is a company doing the software also.

 

But for the software to work properly the camera also have to be capable to stream high quality image at high frame rate.

 

In AXIS camera case that would be at least a AXIS 2120, or AXIS211.

 

Ben-G

[Isaac 0]

Survanabuhmi in Thai means the land of Gold!  The word "buhmi" or "bumi" (as in Malay) must have been Indian in origin.

8794[/snapback]

 

Land of Gold. Exactly the same as what is written in Form 2 History book, chapter what i can't remember. If i'm not mistaken, it was an Arabian who gave Malaya the name. Correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[Raj 0]

very nice...

but KLIA is still my number 1

[Mohd Razif 0]

Survanabuhmi in Thai means the land of Gold! The word "buhmi" or "bumi" (as in Malay) must have been Indian in origin

 

It's a Sanskrit word.

[Ibrahim 0]

The new Suvarnabhumi airport is located in the Samut Prakarn province of Thailand, approx. 30km east of Bangkok.

 

 

Suvarnabhumi will replace Don Muang as Bangkok's international airport, relegating the latter to domestic-only status.

 

 

The terminal's main materials are steel and glass.

 

 

Seven floors and a basement will give the terminal a total floor area of over 500,000m² making it the largest in the world.

 

 

Key Data

 

Stakeholders Airport Authority of Thailand, New Bangkok International Airport Co., Thai Ministry of Finance and Transport, Communications Ministry, The Japanese Bank for International Cooperation, National Economic and Social Development Board

Master contractors Netherlands Airport Consultants BV, Louis Berger International Inc, Design 103 Ltd, Asian Engineering Consultants Corp, Ltd, Index International, Team Consulting Engineers Co, Ltd

Completion date (projected) August 2005

Total project cost 120 billion Baht ($2.7 billion)

Terminal complex design MJTA group of consultants

Terminal complex construction Italian-Thai Development

Terminal complex materials Steel, concrete, glass and Teflon-coated fabric

Terminal dimensions 111m W x 444m L x 42.85m H

Concourse dimensions 40m W x 3,213m L x 25m H

 

Estimated investment for KLIA Malaysia.. about $3.5 billion

Edited October 1, 2005 by Ibrahim

[Sanjay Thaker 0]

doesnt the satelite building's interior look a lil like KLIA's concept..

[Roszaimy 0]

Isn't Suvarnabhumi the name past explorers gave to the Malayan peninsula?

8771[/snapback]

Hmm, I thought it was The Golden Chersonese? Also Suvarnabhumi means The Land of Cobra if I read the news report correctly.

 

But note how "bhumi" and "bumi" sounds very similar in their and our language!

 

[S V Choong 4]

But note how "bhumi" and "bumi" sounds very similar in their and our language!

 

This, I suspect is due to the influence of Buddhism and Sanskrit was the lingua-franca in the region during the old days.

 

The form of Buddhism Thai and Indo-China had was the similar form to the form adopted by ancient Malays and Indonesians called Theravada. Whereas in China, Korea and Japan, it is Mahayana Buddhism. While in Tibet and Mongolia, the form of Buddhism adopted is Vajrayana.

 

Words like "Raja", "Sultan" and many others found in the Malay language are of Indian origin.

Edited October 7, 2005 by S V Choong