Asia Airports News
Asia-Airports.com - The Unofficial Airports Guide
The Bangkok Post reports that Thai Airways has canceled flights between Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son due to high haze levels. The haze results from field burning, and is a common problem at this time of year. Flights will resume once the smoke clears, which might be in a day or two, or when the rains come in the next month or so.
If you were planning on flying to Mae Hong Son in the near future, keep an eye on your flight status, and think about a plan ‘B’.
Several papers are carrying news reports that the Malaysian government has agreed to build a new low cost terminal at KLIA. The new terminal will replace the existing low cost carrier terminal (LCCT), which despite expansion is bursting at the seams, due to the rapid expansion of its main user, Air Asia.
The new terminal will be completed in 2011, and unlike the current LCCT, it will be connected to the express train to the city, making it much more convenient. It will be able to handle up to 30 Million passengers a year, a big improvement over the 10 Million the current LCCT can handle. The airport will also build a third runway to further increase the overall capacity of KLIA.
The announcement appears to signal the end of a long-running dispute between Air Asia and the government over inaction on the airport expansion.
The Airports Council International, "the voice of the world’s airports", earlier this week announced their Airport Service Quality Awards for 2008. Now, the headline in the Bangkok Post was "Suvarnabhumi Rated 5th Best Airport". Well, not quite. Actually, it came in 28th. Bangkok’s new airport was ranked fifth in the "over 40 Million passengers" category, behind Hong Kong, Dallas Fort Worth, Beijing and Denver.
The real fifth best airport – in the world – was Halifax, behind Inchon, Singapore, Hong Kong and Central Japan. You may have noticed that all but one of the world’s top five airports are in Asia. Singapore improved its position to number two due to the wild success of its new Terminal 3, which I’ll be checking out in a couple weeks.
Bangkok didn’t even make it into the top five for Asia-Pacific, which was Seoul Inchon, Singapore, Hong Kong, Central Japan and Taipei. Better luck next year.
The Airport Service Quality Award is based on quarterly passenger surveys. In 2008, the rankings were based on the results of over 200,000 questionnaires completed by passengers at 108 airports. Thanks to the extensive and regular feedback, the ASQ program allows airports to immediately reap the benefits of gaining insight into how their passengers rate them, and they can also follow the results of other participating airports around the world.