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Thailand to reopen old airport, giving Bangkok two hubs Thailand to reopen old airport, giving Bangkok two hubs
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Airline Code [AIQ] View More Thai AirAsia News 
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Tags :Thai AirAsia
"The cabinet has decided to maintain two international airports for our country because there have been many setbacks at (the new) Suvarnabhumi Airport and we need to prepare to handle more passengers in the future," prime minister Surayud Chulanont told reporters.
"Therefore, it's necessary to have Don Muang as a second international airport," he said.
Transport minister Thira Haocharoen said the decades-old Don Muang will be ready to resume commercial operations within 45 days.
"Don Muang will permanently re-open and we are now considering which airlines are to move back to Don Muang," Thira told reporters.
Don Muang has been closed since Suvarnabhumi Airport opened in September. But the airport has become mired by problems ranging from cracks in the taxiways and runways, to allegations of graft and complaints about sanitation.
Highlighting the problems, Thailand's aviation authority last month declined to renew an international safety certificate for Suvarnabhumi. The certificate is not required by law for the airport to operate, meaning it can stay open while the problems are sorted out.
Kulya Pakakrong, acting president of Airports of Thailand -- which operates Suvarnabhumi -- voiced surprise at the decision and warned that expansion would still be needed at Suvarnabhumi.
"Both the Aviation Department and Airports of Thailand were surprised by the urgent, unexpected decision made by the cabinet," Kulya told AOT.
She had previously said that operating two airports would only temporarily solve the problems at the new airport.
Critics have also voiced concern about splitting air traffic between the two for fear the move would create confusion among travelers and that people trying to make connections could become snarled up in Bangkok's notorious traffic.
But Thailand's civil aviation chief Chaisak Angkasuwan said many big cities have more than one airport and Bangkok should be no different.
"In Tokyo or France, they operate more than one international airport in a big city so I don't see any obstacle for Thailand to do the same thing," Chaisak said.
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- Thailand to reopen old airport, giving Bangkok two hubs
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