State-Run Airport Opposed for Samui
By Boonsong Kositchotethana, Bangkok Post, Thailand
May 16–Bangkok Airways, the owner of Koh Samui’s sole airport, says it is prepared to face challenges from a proposed second airport on the resort island only if it is built and operated by a private entity.
Chief executive Prasert Prasarttong-Osoth yesterday told the National Legislative Assembly’s Transport Committee that it was only fair to have a second airport, provided it was built and run by a private company rather than a state agency using taxpayers’ money.
Government agencies, he said, tended to disregard the true economies of constructing and operating projects, which may give them unfair advantages over private undertakings.
After all, private companies are required to pay back loans and interest and to generate enough returns to keep their operations afloat, according to Dr Prasert.
He was speaking at a seminar organised by the committee yesterday to find a resolution to the long-standing debate about whether the resort island needs the second airport and how to go about it.
In 2003, the Thaksin Shinawatra administration instructed the Transport Ministry to study the possibility of building a second airport on Samui to support the burgeoning tourism industry, possibly with public funds.
Bangkok Airways has been at the centre of continued criticism for its monopoly on domestic air services to Koh Samui, high passenger fares and aircraft service charges, as well as its reluctance to allow other domestic carriers to use its airport.
These allegations were flatly rejected by Bangkok Airways, which has played a key role in putting the once-little-known island in the Gulf of Thailand on the world’s tourism map following the airport’s launch and first flights in 1989.
Other speakers at the seminar including Chaisak Angkasuwan, the director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA), and a senior official from the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said the decision on whether Samui needed a second airport would need to be made by the Samui people themselves.
“A big question is whether Samui would still be popular among tourists if the island has two airports, as the second facility may affect the serenity of the island,” noted Mr Chaisak.
He said Bangkok Airways no longer wanted to monopolise the airport, which had recently undergone a 450-million-baht upgrade, and pointed out that what restricted air traffic to and from the island were environmental rules that limited the maximum number of daily flights.
However, the DCA is advocating the construction of the second airport partly as a way to deal with the criticism of Bangkok Airways, while the environmental impact it would create could be tackled.
Dr Prasert noted that the development of the second airport should be considered in the context of sustainable tourism, zeroing in on the high-end market, which has not been pursued vigorously.
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