Heavy rain, flooding triggered by tropical storm hit northern, northeastern provinces

PHRAE, July 31 – Heavy rain and flooding hit several northern and northeastern provinces while local authorities are prepared for more rain as tropical storm Nok-Ten enters Thailand Sunday.

n Phrae, flash flooding triggered by heavy rainfalls hit several areas in Rong Kwang district. A portion of Phrae-Nan road from the municipality office to the district office and the Rong Kwang police station is under about 50 centimetres of water.

In Den Chai and Mueng district, several villages were inundated. Chuan Sirinanthaporn, Phrae governor warned local residents in disaster-prone areas of flash flood and mudslide.

In the northeastern province of Nongkhai, heavy rain and flooding hit many areas including the municipality. Many main roads are currently under water. People evacuated their belongings to higher ground. Meanwhile, as a by-election is being held in Constituency 2 on Sunday after the Pheu Thai candidate was given a yellow card, officials worried that the heavy rains may result in low voter turnout.

Several provinces in the North have released water from reservoirs to prepare for more rainfall stemming from tropical storm Nok-Ten.

Chiang Rai irrigation officials drained water from Sruay reservoir and Chiang Rai dike to absorb rapidly increasing water and to prevent water from overflowing its banks to villagers and farmlands in low-lying areas along the Kok River and the Lao River. Rain in Chiang Rai stopped Sunday morning but overnight rain caused the water level in the Kok River, the Lao River, the Chan River, the Kham River and the Sai River to rise fast and become brownish-red and murky with silt. The local disaster prevention and mitigation office warned people at foothills, near waterways and in lowlands to beware of flash floods from July 31 to August 3.

In Lamphum, deputy governor Prachakjit Apiwat, said there is rainfall in 80 per cent of the province. Local residents in at-risk areas have been warned of possible flash floods. The local disaster prevention and mitigation office is offering emergency call service around the clock.

In Phichit, Saklek Kamjai, a local officer of the disaster prevention and mitigation department in Phichit said they are cooperating with the Royal Irrigation Department to reduce the released water from the Yom River to the Nan River as the Nan River is already at a high level. He also worked with the Chao Phraya dam in Chainat to drain water from the Chao Phraya River to prepare to absorb water from the northern provinces.

A centre to monitor the amount of rainfall, possible flash flood and mudslide from the tropical storm Nok-Ten has been established. The meteorological department has issued a warning for northeastern, northern and eastern provinces of heavy rain and possible flash floods associated with tropical storm Nok-Ten from Sunday until August 4.

The Associated Press reported tropical storm Nok-Ten slammed into north-central Vietnam, killing one person. A 68-year-old man was electrocuted by a falling power line on Saturday.
Nok-Ten has already left at least 50 people dead and 25 missing in the Philippines.

Briton Who Faked His Own Death Found Living In Thailand

'I've been living a lie for too long': The 53-year-old British father who faked his own death after wife's breast op in Moscow found sleeping rough on Thai airport bench

Weaving his way along a Bangkok street, Stephen Kellaway looks like just another aging hippie enjoying the relaxed Thai lifestyle. In fact, he is a middle-class British psychologist who officially died almost two years ago. The 53-year-old father of two faked his death during a family trip to Moscow, where his wife had breast enlargement surgery, to avoid jail for swindling £50,000 benefits.


Penniless: Kellaway sleeping in the lounge of Bangkok Airport. He travelled the world
on a false passport which he secured using the birth certificate of a dead child - a ruse
inspired by the Frederick Forsyth thriller The Day Of The Jackal

Since then he has been living in Asia, mainly on the proceeds of the £1 million property empire the couple built up in London. The Daily Mail tracked him down to Bangkok, where he was sleeping rough after his payments from the UK had been temporarily halted. There, he admitted: 'I've been lying about who I am for too long. It is a life of constant anxiety and uncertainty.'

The son of an engineer, Kellaway met his third wife, Nelli, in a pub during the mid-1990s when he was running a counselling service in West London. They have a daughter and son aged 11 and nine, who were sent to private school. Kellaway earned £100,000 a year from his practice. He and Nelli, now 42, bought six houses and flats in the South East. To help pay their multiple mortgages and school fees, they fraudulently claimed housing benefit on their property portfolio. Realising the police were closing in, they went on holiday with their children to Russia, where Nelli had her breast operation – and her husband faked his death by bribing a mortuary worker to place his passport on the body of a tramp.

Nelli returned to London with an urn which she said contained Kellaway's ashes. Facing court for the fraud, she convinced a jury that her 'abusive' husband had forced her into it and escaped with a suspended sentence. Meanwhile Kellaway was travelling the world on a false passport which he secured using the birth certificate of a dead child – a ruse inspired by the Frederick Forsyth thriller The Day Of The Jackal.

Actor in hot water over filming in prohibited area

The National Park Department is seeking police action against a wellknown actor and TV documentary host for allegedly filmed his programme in a protected national forest without permission and for violating officials' orders.

Kanjana Nittaya, chief of Phu Khieu wildlife sanctuary in Chaiyaphum's Konsarn district said that she had filed the complaint with police on July 20 against Jessdaporn Pholdee, host of Navigator programme, which is aired on Channel 3.

The actor and the crew had sought permission to film in the sanctuary and her office had permitted them to film in some parts of the sanctuary, which are open to the public and for filming."They were notified that filming was not allowed in other areas, as these are considered sensitive," Kanjana said.

She identified the prohibited area as "Phu Khing."

However, the actor and the crew entered and filmed in Phu Khing, which is in Kasetsomboon district of Chaiyaphum. This area is closed to the public and for activities under a 1992 wildlife reservation and protection Act.

"Khun Jessadaporn and the team could not say they did not know because they had already been informed of the prohibition," she said.

Her office thus decided to seek police action. "If the programme about Phu Khing is aired, all officials of the Phu Khieu wildlife sanctuary and the National Park director general would face serious disciplinary punishment," she said.

Many television programmes have been filmed inside the sanctuary in the past, with their presenters and crew informed of the prohibited areas. There have no violations like Khun Jessadaporn's case, she said.

Her office has already informed the actor's team that the programme filmed inside the prohibited sites cannot be aired. The team has promised to adjust the programme accordingly.

Meanwhile Pol Lt Col Sarayuth Daojang of Kasetsomboon said that he was gathering evidence and information concerning the case and this is expected to be complete by the end of this month.

Police will then summon Jessadaporn to acknowledge the allegations.

Princess Bejaratana passes at 85

Princess Bejaratana, the only child of King Rama VI, passed away yesterday afternoon at the age of 85 from a blood infection, the Royal Household Bureau reported.

The princess' life encompassed four kings, although only one day under one of them. She was born on November 24, 1925, to King Vajiravudh and Princess Suvadhana. After seeing his daughter for a day, the king died on November 25, but not before he finished the poem he had been working on for her lullaby. Her uncle, King Rama VII, bestowed on the princess her name on December 30.
The princess and her mother moved to Suan Hongsa Villa at Dusit Palace, where she received her education from a private tutor. They moved in with Queen Sri Savarindira (the Queen Dowager) during the Second World War, and the princess attended Rajani School until the age of 12. The princess and her mother moved to England, where she received further schooling as well as medication for her illness.
In England, she first stayed at Fairhill Villa in Surrey, then transferred to Brighton. It was well known that the princess and her mother always granted audiences to Thais in England as well as supported Thai activities abroad. During the 20 years of her stay, the princess studied English, French and piano as well as attending an all-girls' boarding school in Wales throughout the Second World War. During the war, she volunteered to help the British Red Cross prepare bandages as well as medicine for soldiers.
In November 1957, the mother and daughter moved back to Thailand. They bought land on Sukhumvit Soi 38 and built Ruenruedi Villa Palace, which is still the home of the princess. Once the princess had settled into her new life in Thailand, she proceeded to perform her royal duties as a representative of the Royal Family. During her active days, she was recognised as a great help to His Majesty the King in carrying out public welfare missions that required visits to remote areas.
Her special interests ranged from education, public health, Buddhism and the soldiers and police stationed at Thailand's borders to general public welfare.
In a statement marking her 61st birthday, the princess vowed to dedicate her whole life to performing royal duties that served the national interest in honour of His Majesty the King.
An article on the Public Relations Department website describes her as follows: "A devout Buddhist, the Princess [was] known to be very punctual and make best use of her time. She [followed] her constant routines every day and her watch [was] always persistently adjusted. The Princess [preferred] simplicity and [was] a true nationalist. Her clothes and handbags [were] only made in Thailand. Her use of language [was] always clear and accurate. English and French [were] spoken only with foreigners. The Princess [crocheted] in her free time. The crocheted cloths [were] given to Thai soldiers along the border".
Princess Bejaratana was known privately to be a very gifted person, especially with numbers. She had the knack of calculating the day of the week for any dates presented to her, promptly and without any hesitation, as well as remembering the birthdays of everyone who had been presented to her.
Because of her age and failing health, she cut back on many of her royal duties in her later years. However, once in a while she engaged in some work that was connected to her late father.
The Royal Household Bureau is arranging for the public to pay homage to her at the Sahathai Samakom Hall in the Grand Palace from 1pm to 5pm today.

A tale of three helicopter disasters

Over a period of just nine days, three of the Army's helicopters crashed in Kaeng Krachan National Park, Phetchaburi, plunging the nation into a state of shock at the tragic accidents that claimed 17 lives.

The first accident took place on July 16 and involved a UH-1H helicopter, known as a Huey. The crash happened in bad weather and poor visibility. All five officers on board perished. The rescue team found the charred wreckage at the crash site, about 10 metres below the mountaintop.

The crashed helicopter was refurbished following its decommission from the United States before being deployed in the Army's aviation service about 10 years ago.

Manufactured by Bell Helicopter, the Huey is a utility helicopter with twin engine, one two-blade main rotor and one two-blade tail rotor.

Its fuselage can accommodate up to 14 troops or six stretchers for medical evacuation. Its flight range is 512 kilometres and its airborne time is three hours. Cruise speed is 204 kilometres per hour.

In the second accident, a UH-60L, known as Black Hawk, went down on July 19, killing eight officers and one television cameraman on board. The utility helicopter crashed in bad weather and poor visibility while on a mission to recover the five bodies from the first accident.

The Black Hawk is ranked as one of the top ten helicopters in military service around the world. The Army began to deploy Black Hawks in 2002. The crash leaves six in deployment at the Army's Lop Buri Aviation Centre. Two new Black Hawks are on order and the Army plans to increase the deployment to 33 UH-60 helicopters.

Manufactured by Silorsky Aircraft Corporation, the Black Hawk has the capacity to transport 14 troops or six stretchers or lift 4,400 kilograms of cargo.

Its flight radius is 592 kilometres with a cruise speed of 278 kilometres per hour. It is a four bladed, twin engine, medium-lift utility helicopter.

In the third accident, a Bell 212 crashed on July 24 while on its way for maintenance checks after completing its mission to transport the nine bodies in the second crash. Of the four officers on board, one mechanic survived to recount the malfunction of the tail rotor.

The Bell 212, or Twin Huey, is a two-bladed, twin-engine, medium helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter.

Deployed in the Army since 1992, it has the capacity to transport 14 troops with a cruise speed of 186 kilometres per hour. Its flight range is 439 kilometres.

UH-1H, Huey, helicopter

Manufacturer: Bell Helicopter

Status: Refurbished and in commission for 10 years

Specifications

Capacity: 14

Length: 12.5 metres

Height: 4.4m

Maximum takeoff weight: 4,308 kilograms

Performance

Maximum speed: 204 kilometres per hour

Cruise speed: 204km per hour

Range: 512km

UH-60L, Black Hawk, helicopter

Manufacturer: Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

Status: new and commissioned in 2002

Specifications

Capacity: 14

Length: 19.76 metres

Height: 5.13m

Maximum takeoff weight: 10,660 kilograms

External cargo load: 4,400 kg

Performance

Maximum speed: 295km per hour

Cruise speed: 278km per hour

Range: 2,200km

Bell 212, Twin Huey, helicopter

Manufacturer: Bell Helicopter

Status: new and commissioned in 1992

Specifications

Capacity: 14

Length: 17.43metres

Height: 3.83m

Maximum takeoff weight: 5.080kg

External cargo load: 2,268kg

Performance

Maximum speed: 223 km per hour

Cruise speed: 186 km per hour

Range: 439 km

Trade, tourism along Thai-Cambodian border active after World Court ruling

SI SA KET, July 24 – Cross border trade at Chong Sa-ngam border crossing with neighbouring Cambodia in Si Sa Ket on Sunday has reportedly been revived as many Cambodians queued up for the opening of the border crossing in the morning to exchange products with Thai traders.

Cambodians crossed the border to buy and sell large amounts of consumer products. Border trade activities was seen as active again amidst security provided by police officers of Phu Sing Police Station and local army rangers.

Apart from the trade, tourism along the Thai-Cambodian border was also boosted as many tourists have been visiting the area, asking for information about cross-border excursions to attractions such as Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom in Siem Riap, according to Hattachai Pengchaem, head of the trade and tourism operators association in Chong Sa-ngam.

Mr Hattachai said that the return of the active trade and tourism can be attributed to the July 18’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court rulings on the Thai-Cambodian border, adding that both Thai and Cambodian traders have expressed their confidence in the border situation.

The rulings applied to both Thailand and Cambodia, requiring that both countries withdraw troops from the disputed border area near Preah Vihear Temple.

Meanwhile, the overall Thai political situation in Thailand is becoming clearer, as a new coalition government led by Pheu Thai Party will be formed after the July 3 general election.

Thai hookers paid to smuggle S.African rhino horns: reports

JOHANNESBURG, July 22, 2011 (AFP) - A Thai man hired prostitutes to smuggle poached rhino horns disguised as legal hunting trophies from South Africa to supply the Asian black market, media said Friday.

Chumlong Lemtongthai, 43, who was arrested last week outside Johannesburg, was part of a syndicate alleged to have sold at least 40 rhino horns, the weekly Mail & Guardian and the daily Beeld reported.

The revelation came from a South African manager for Thai Airways, John Oliviers, who worked with Chumlong but then turned whistle-blower and informed the police, the papers said.

Olivier told police that Marnus Steyl, a South African wildlife trader, bought rhinos from auctions and private owners and took them to his farms where the animals were killed soon after their arrival, the paper said.

"Once the rhinos were established on Steyl's farm, he would call Lemtongthai and tell him how many animals were in place for a 'hunt'," read Olivier's statement, according to the Mail & Guardian.

South Africa allows a limited number of legal rhino hunts, but each person is allowed only one kill per year.

Friends, strippers and prostitutes were paid 5,000 rands ($740, 514 euros) to pose as hunters and export the horns, the papers said.

Each horn was taken to a taxidermist, who mounted it on a shield to look like a hunting trophy.

"The trophy is just a cover for getting the horn out of South Africa and into Asia. Once in Asia, it obviously would enter the black market as rhino horn for 'medicinal purposes'. The person allegedly 'hunting' the rhino would never see the animal or its horn again," Olivier's statement reportedly said.

Chumlong paid 65,000 rands a kilo for the horns and sold them for $55,000 (380,000 rands) a kilo, the papers said.

With the average horn weighing five kilos, he made more than $8.9 million in profit on the 40 rhinos shot to date, they said.

South African national parks officials say rhino poaching has risen from 13 cases in 2007 to a record 333 last year and 222 so far this year.

Panda pregnancy keeps keepers guessing

Chiang Mai Zoo veterinarians are maintaining a positive outlook despite their suspicion that panda Lin Hui might be undergoing a false pregnancy. They have asked for more time to conduct tests before officially deciding on the panda's condition.

Prasertsak Buntrakulpuntawi, head of Chiang Mai Zoo's panda research project, said yesterday that after checking Lin Hui's hormone levels four times, they found her progesterone decreasing to almost normal and had found no sign of a foetus. However, their findings remained inconclusive about the pregnancy because the panda was an exceptional animal.

He said this was a similar scenario to the first phase of Lin Hui's pregnancy with Lin Ping when they couldn't find the foetus until she became visibly pregnant and gave birth to the cub.

Asked about conducting artificial insemination - the same method that led to Lin Ping's birth - Prasertsak said they would wait for Lin Ping to mate naturally early next year before considering that option.

Thailand's Irresistible Attraction for Fugitives

BANGKOK — Give me your drug dealers, your money launderers, your felons on the lam yearning to breathe free. ...

Viktor Bout after his arrest in Thailand in 2010. 

Thailand has never advertised itself as a beacon for fugitives, but the world’s wretched refuse — to tweak the noble words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty — seem to show up here in droves.
Millions of tourists, most of them presumably without criminal records, travel to Thailand every year, drawn by the good food, lively night life and crystal waters. Fugitives come for the same reasons — plus the prospect, for some, of outliving a statute of limitations.
“Thailand has traditionally been one of the top source countries for extradition of criminals to the U.S.,” reads a March 2009 cable from the U.S. Embassy obtained by WikiLeaks. The cable lists the wide variety of fugitives nabbed in Thailand over the years: child molesters, narcotics traffickers, money launderers and cybercriminals, among others.
The cable, which was sent from the embassy in Bangkok, counts 135 defendants extradited from Thailand to the United States in the past three decades and dozens more people “directly deported.”
But a scan of recent headlines in Thailand suggests that the U.S. fugitives are but a footnote on a long rap sheet of globe-trotting felons on the loose.
In the past two years, the news media here have reported the arrest in Thailand of Germans wanted for fraud and tax evasion; a man suspected of being a South Korean mafia boss; Czech bank robbers convicted of stealing several million euros (and who fled to Thailand after jumping bail while their case was under appeal); Pakistani passport forgers; a convicted Filipino murderer who was the most wanted man in the Philippines but worked in Bangkok as a jeweler; a French drug trafficker who thought he could elude the police by using his brother’s passport; the head of Japan’s second-largest organized crime syndicate; an Israeli fugitive convicted of double murder in Belgium and traveling on a forged Maldives passport; an Indian man wanted for sending a bevy of fraudulent spam; an Australian suspected of murdering a family of three; and a seemingly countless number of pedophiles.
Add to the list Viktor Bout, suspected of being an international arms dealer, who was extradited to the United States in November after a protracted legal battle in Thailand.
Many criminals seem to find refuge in Pattaya, the seedy seaside resort southeast of Bangkok known for its vast stretches of girly bars. A separate U.S. cable from 2005 said U.S. fugitives had “taken up residence in Pattaya over the years, along with people who should be getting treatment for mental illness, but are not.”
Thailand’s freewheeling society, its pliant law enforcement and a joie de vivre at budget prices are the powerful magnets for the dregs of many countries, says John Burdett, a British author of crime novels set in Thailand that delve into the country’s underworld.
“There are a number of minor reasons and one very major one why the jet-setting underground would find Thailand irresistible,” Mr. Burdett said in an e-mail. “The minor ones would include guns, girls, gambling, ganja and gorgeous beaches, especially for those recently released from confinement.”
But what makes Thailand especially attractive, Mr. Burdett said, “is the international reputation, whether deserved or not, of a compliant and bribable police force.”
Thailand’s leaders have long acknowledged that there are bad apples — some would say orchards of bad apples — among the police.
Lt. Gen. Wiboon Bangthamai, the head of the country’s immigration police, said in an interview that officials at remote border posts had been known to suffer inexplicable computer troubles when cash-rich people sought to cross Thai borders illegally.
“Officers at small border checkpoints would break the computers and let them in,” General Wiboon said.
The U.S. cables point to weak law enforcement, a country preoccupied with political problems and inconvenient geography.
“Thailand’s borders are long and extremely porous and the country is therefore vulnerable to international criminal elements of all kinds,” said the cable from 2009.

Thai Women and (Farang) Foreign Men – What's that all about?

Sex and money make the world go round. Add power and the combination of the three makes up the ideal recipe for success, be it in business or pleasure. Is that a cynical view? Maybe. but when a sanctimonious English female reporter asks the question: Why do Thai girls want to marry foreign men? I think that's a pretty daft question. The reasons are obvious, but let's look at the route to the pot of gold.

Many Thai girls, particularly those from the rural north east, can have a fairly rough time in both childhood and in their teens. Go into any bar in Bangkok and the bar girls will repeat the same story. They had a Thai boyfriend, who got her pregnant, he then did a runner, and she was left with baby and probably mother, father and a few lazy brothers to support.

Often the male contingent of that family and even the mother will tell the girl there is one solution: "Go to Bangkok, get a job in a bar, make money using your feminine charm and send us the money you make". Simply put, go and have sex with as many foreign men as possible and give us the money.

This is the reality of the situation and no matter how it is dressed up and had spin put on it, this is simple fact in Thailand, It has been for decades and I see no sign of it changing, no matter what the 'do gooders' and politically correct females of the west may think. They have not had the same pressures put on them as these girls have.

There are choices of course and I know a few girls who have moved on from the bar scene without grabbing a foreign husband. One went back to grow and pick potatoes, and as far as I know she still sells them at the roadside, and is doing OK. Some try the factories but find the money paid by the foreign manufacturers just isn't enough to support their family as well.

In the true tradition of worker exploitation, these manufacturers are treating their female staff with as much disrespect as any foreign sex tourist. Working on the farm is the other option, but again, it's not enough to sustain a whole family, so it's off to Bangkok and use the most valuable asset they have to lure a nice foreign guy.

There are no shortage of takers, but as in any job, some effort has to be made to be successful. It's no good just sitting at the bar every night and not learning how to communicate properly. Let's face it, some of the girls are not the sharpest knives in the box and they will always have trouble in achieving their goal

Some are just downright lazy and would struggle wherever they worked. And some are cunning to the degree of deliberately getting pregnant and using this as a lever to get the man. But this is not just Thailand, it happens the world over.

In contrast, some are bright, learn and pick up English (the most common language used) and are fun to be with. This is important as many men will not want to be sat there with a bored looking, dim, sad girl. That's not why they came to Bangkok. If the signs are good, and after a few nights of pleasure, the guy is still keen, then the girl from the North Country may well have cracked it. But the driving force behind all these relationships is money.

After a while the sex can wait, but the money has to keep coming in a steady flow. Eventually they may marry and both go to live in a new house built in the home Isaan village, where the Farang and his beautiful Thai wife live and maybe have children. The teenage girls in the village will see the new house and look with envy.

They may ask: "How come Lek have big new house like this?"

The answer : "She go Bangkok and find Farang man – I think I do same"

The circle is complete, and off we go again with some more of the beautiful girls of Isaan looking for their man. That's why many girls from Isaan look for a foreign man. Security and money.

Simple – Yes?

So having answered one question, our dim British TV reporters then come up with another daft question:

Why do western men come to live in Thailand?

Suvarnabhumi Airport

Suvarnabhumi Airport ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ (Sanskrit: Suvarṇa – Gold, Bhūmi – Land)
IATA: BKK – ICAO: VTBS
Summary
Airport type		Public
Operator		Airports of Thailand
Serves		Bangkok
Location		Bang Phli, Samut Prakan, Thailand
Hub for		Bangkok Airways Orient Thai Airlines Thai AirAsia Thai Airways International
Elevation AMSL		5 ft / 2 m
Coordinates		13°40′52″N 100°44′50″ECoordinates: 13°40′52″N 100°44′50″E
Website		SuvarnabhumiAirport.com
Map
BKK Location in Samut Prakan Province of Greater Bangkok
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
01R/19L	4,000	13,123	Asphalt
01L/19R	3,700	12,139	Asphalt
Source: DAFIF

Suvarnabhumi Airport (Thai: ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ, pronounced [sù.wān.nā.pʰūːm]) (IATA: BKK, ICAO: VTBS) (meaning 'Golden Land' in Sanskrit), also known as (New) Bangkok International Airport, is an international airport serving Bangkok, Thailand. It was officially opened for limited domestic flight service on 15 September 2006, and opened for most domestic and all international commercial flights on 28 September. The airport is currently the main hub for Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Orient Thai Airlines, Thai AirAsia and will be a hub for the new Thai Tiger Airways.
The airport is located in Racha Thewa in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan Province, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of downtown Bangkok. The name Suvarnabhumi was chosen by King Bhumibol Adulyadej and refers to the golden kingdom hypothesised to have been located somewhere in Southeast Asia.
Designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy/Jahn Architects, the airport has the world's tallest control tower (132.2 metres / 434 feet), and the world's third largest single-building airport terminal (563,000 square metres / 6,060,000 square feet). Suvarnabhumi is the 3rd busiest airport in Asia, and the busiest in the country, having handled 42.7 million passengers in 2010, and is also a major air cargo hub. The airport inherited the airport code BKK from Don Mueang after the older airport ceased international commercial flights. A modern motorway no.7 connects the airport, Bangkok, and the heavily industrial Eastern Seaboard of Thailand, where most of the manufacturing for export takes place.

 History

Terminal interior

Border between the concourse and the terminal seen from the arrival area

Terminal

Inner courtyard as seen from the luggage claim room

Inner courtyard and terminal structure by night

Departure hall

The churn of the milk ocean sculpture inside the departure hall

Land purchase, early construction

Planning of a second international airport for Bangkok started in the early 1960s. The process was slow from the start: as early as 1968, critics were already charging that the project was "five to seven years" behind the main schedule.
The 8,000-acre (32 km²) plot of land occupied by the airport was purchased in 1973, but the student-led protests on 14 October that year led the overthrow of the military government of Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn and the project was shelved. After a series of ups and downs, the "New Bangkok International Airport" company (NBIA) was formed in 1996. Due to political and economic instabilities, notably the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the civil construction began six years later in January 2002 by the government of Thaksin Shinawatra. The airport is located in a once low-lying marsh, formerly known as Nong Ngu Hao (Thai: หนองงูเห่า, lit. "Cobra Swamp"), which took 5 years (1997–2001) to clear make a land reclamation. In 2005, the construction supervision and management was transferred to the Airports of Thailand PLC, while the NBIA company was dissolved.

Financing

Fifty percent of the airport's construction cost was covered by Airports of Thailand, while the another 50% was from a friendly agreement of AOT and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). Airport-related procurement followed JBIC's stringent guidelines for transparency and openness. Despite populism regarding the airport as being built for passengers, Thai and foreigner exporting companies in the area for a long time wanted a round the clock airport built along with a modern motorway between factories, Bangkok, and the port of Laem Chabang.

Early construction, airport tests, and official opening

The airport was due to open in late 2005, but a series of budget overruns, construction flaws, and allegations of corruption plagued the project.
A further problem was the belief that the airport was haunted by spirits, and sightings of ghosts by superstitious construction workers, so that on 23 September 2005, the Thai airports authority held a ceremony with 99 Buddhist monks chanting prayers to calm these spirits.
Symbolic first test flights involving two Thai Airways aircraft were held on 29 September 2005, a previously announced deadline for opening.
Full tests of the airport, with seats sold to the public, took place on 3 July and 29 July 2006. Six airlines – Thai Airways International, Nok Air, Thai Air Asia, Bangkok Airways, PBair and One-Two-GO – used the airport as a base for 20 domestic flights. The first international test flights were conducted on 1 September 2006. Two THAI's aircraft, Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A300-600, simultaneously departed the airport on 09:19 to Singapore and Hong Kong. At 15:50 the same aircraft flew back and made simultaneous touchdowns on runways 19L and 19R. These test flights demonstrated the readiness of the airport to handle heavy traffic.
On 15 September 2006, the airport started limited daily operations with Jetstar Asia Airways operating three flightsSingapore to Bangkok flight 3K511 The first commercial arrival Singapore flight 3K512 and Thai Airways International operating some domestic flights to Phitsanulok, Chiang Mai and Ubon Ratchathani. Bangkok Airways moved on 21 September, AirAsia and Thai AirAsia followed suit on 25 September and on 26 September Nok Air moved to Suvarnabhumi Airport. During this initial phase, as well as in the previous tests, the airport used the temporary IATA code NBK.
Suvarnabhumi officially opened at 03:00 on 28 September 2006, taking over all flights from Don Mueang. The first flight to arrive was Lufthansa Cargo flight LH8442 from Mumbai at 03:05. The first commercial when officially opened arrival was from Japan Airlines at 03:30. The first passenger arrival was Aerosvit flight VV171 from Kiev at 04:30, and the first cargo departure was Saudi Arabian Airlines flight SV-984 to Riyadh at 05:00. Aerosvit also had the first passenger departure (VV172 to Kiev) around 05:30.

Initial difficulties

Many difficulties were recorded in the first few days of the airport's operation. On the first day alone, sluggish luggage claims were common – the very first passenger arrival by Aerosvit took an hour for the luggage to start coming out, and some flights did not have their luggage coming out even after four hours. Also flights were delayed (Thai Airways claimed that 17 of 19 flights were delayed that day), and there were also failures with the check-in system. Subsequent problems included the failure of the cargo computer system, and the departure boards displaying the wrong information, resulting in confused passengers (especially as unlike Don Muang, there were no "final calls" issued).
Months into its opening, issues such as congestion, construction quality, signage, provision of facilities, and soil subsidence continued to plague the project, prompting calls to reopen Don Mueang to allow for repairs to be done. Expert opinions varied widely regarding the extent of Suvarnabhumi's problems as well as their root cause; most airlines stated that damage to the airport was minimal. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont decided on 16 February 2007 to reopen Don Mueang for domestic flights on a voluntary basis, with 71 weekly flights moved back initially, with no international flights allowed.

Capacity and safety issues

Problems with the tarmac

The Engineering Institute of Thailand conducted investigations at the airport in late 2006 after signs of distress were spotted at several locations in Suvarnabhumi's taxiways and taxilanes. Rutting was found in five of the six taxilanes and one of the six taxiways. Plastic deformation of the asphalt wearing course was observed near the takeoff position of the runway. However, the investigators noted that plastic deformation at this location was a common phenomenon and only routine maintenance was required to repair the distress. Aside from this surface distortion, both runways were in good structural condition.
Further investigations found that that taxilane and taxiway rutting was caused by separation of the asphalt binder from the aggregate surface due to prolonged water infiltration into the asphalt concrete base course, a phenomenon known as "stripping." The 23-centimetre (9.1 in) thick base course is the top-most layer of the tarmac. Core samples indicated that the concrete base course material contained the correct job mix and aggregate gradation. Below the base course are the binder course, the wearing course, and the cement-treated base.
Detailed investigations found that water seepage was evident along the rims of the expansion joints in the cement-tested base, indicating that a large quantity of water was still trapped in the sand blanket (the bottom-most layer of the tarmac). It was found that water trapped in the sand blanket was fully confined with no connection to the pavement areas of the airport. A later investigation by the AoT identified several potential reasons for the trapped water in the sand blanket. The AoT's findings were disputed by several experts.
The Engineering Institute of Thailand sent a formal warning to the AoT in November 2006 about the urgent need to drain water from beneath the tarmac, and the need for immediate action. "The AOT did nothing about the problem," Suebsak Promboon of the EIT later noted. "The situation might not have become this bad if the water had been drained then."
In January 2007, ruts were discovered in the runways at Suvarnabhumi. The east runway was scheduled to close for repairs. Expert opinions have varied widely as to the root cause of the ruts. Airport authorities and airline representatives maintained that the airport was still safe and resisted suggestions that the airport should be completely closed and all flights moved back to Don Muang.
On 27 January 2007, however, the Department of Civil Aviation declined to renew the airport's safety certificate, which expired the previous day. The ICAO requires that international airports hold aerodrome safety certificates, but Suvarnabhumi will continue to operate because the ICAO requirement has yet to be adopted as part of Thai law.

The airport has two parallel runways (60 m. wide, 4,000 m. and 3,700 m. long) and two parallel taxiways to accommodate simultaneous departures and arrivals. It has a total of 120 parking bays (51 with contact gates and 69 remote gates) and 8 parking bays (5 contact gates and 3 remote gates) of these are capable of accommodating the Airbus A380 aircraft. With a capacity of handling 76 flight operations per hour, both international and domestic flights will share the airport terminal but will be assigned to different parts of the concourse. In the initial phase of construction, it will be capable of handling 45 million passengers and 3 million tonnes of cargo per year. Between the airport hotel and the terminal building are the two 5-storey car park buildings with a combined capacity of 5,000 cars.