Some passengers report first-day problems at Don Mueang Terminal 2
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SOME AIR PASSENGERS experienced inconveniences when the second terminal at Don Mueang International Airport opened yesterday.
“I think some passengers missed their flights, as I heard many ‘last call’ announcements,” said Phinyapat Huangnak, one of the passengers travelling to Chiang Mai.
She said she had no difficulty using the renovated terminal, but many others had problems with a few toilets and the long walk with heavy luggage from the old terminal to the new one, as they did not know that the new terminal was now in operation.
Another passenger who asked not to be named said he still faced heavy traffic in front of the new terminal and also limited parking spaces.
The airport should do more to promote the new terminal and provide information to all travellers ahead of their travel date to avoid congestion, he said.
There are some warnings reportedly saying that passengers using the newly renovated terminal should beware of illegal taxis standing in front of the facility. Foreign tourists, particularly Chinese, are apparently targeted.
Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, president of Airports of Thailand, said AOT would fix all problems by the end of February.
“Some renovation work is still going on, while toilets and restaurants are almost complete,” he said.
“The new terminal is not 100 per cent ready,” he added.
Don Mueang serves 650 domestic and international flights per day, carrying 90,000-93,000 passengers.
The second terminal will expand total capacity from 18 million passengers per year to 30 million.
“About 70 per cent of passengers at Don Mueang are domestic and the remaining 30 per cent are foreign,” Nitinai said.
Four carriers – Thai AirAsia, Nok Air, Thai Lion Air and Thai Smile – will relocate their services to the new terminal.
AOT spent more than Bt2 billion on the renovation of the old Terminal 2 to meet the growth of low-cost airlines in Southeast Asia and China.
