The much-anticipated certification of Suvarnabhumi Airport will be announced this week, but - contrary to some reports - it might not be the comprehensive international accreditation that some aviation professionals would like to see.

"Meeting international safety standards is crucial to the opening of Suvarnabhumi," said Captain Permsak Thongpaiboon, president of the Pilots Association of Thailand. "It needs a stamp [of approval] from ICAO," he said, referring to the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

But when the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) issues its planned Aerodrome Certificate for Suvarnabhumi Airport, it will not have that ICAO stamp.

The caretaker government is rushing to open the airport. The first flight with passengers will land on July 29 and September 28 has been set as the official date for launching full service.

Issuing aerodrome certification, however, is complex and new in Thailand. And, as with many first attempts, glitches have been encountered, creating some uncertainty about what this certification milestone actually means.

According to Chaisak Angsuwan, the director-general of the DCA, it is not the ICAO's mandate to issue such certificates, but the organisation three years ago set new guidelines that can be used by member governments to conduct their own certifications.

Somchai Sawasdeepon, general manager of Suvarnabhumi Airport, said: "Technically, we do not need to have any international certification to operate Suvarnabhumi.

"Don Muang has never had the certification. But we know that other major airports around the world work to meet standards set by the ICAO, so as a new airport it is good if we have one before the opening date. So, in May we asked the DCA to issue the certification for Suvarnabhumi."

For Dr Jaroon Meesomboon, director of the DCA's safety standards and air navigation facilitating division, uplifting airport safety standards is a welcome step for Thailand, but without sufficient staff and time, he questioned how efficiently it would be accomplished.

He noted that last year the DCA was chosen as one of the first four agencies under an ICAO campaign initiated in 2003 to evaluate member governments' capacity to conduct airport certifications consistent with ICAO guidelines. The other countries were Canada, Germany and Malaysia, Jaroon said.

One of the major deficiencies documented by the ICAO is the DCA's lack of any legal authority to compel airport operators to comply with its recommendations.

"We can't effectively play the role of a regulator because we do not have the teeth," the DCA's Chaisak said. "We don't have final say in enforcing aviation safety. We can encourage airport operators to do things, and we have done so. But we can't force them."

This lack of authority has been apparent in the DCA's certification of Suvarnabhumi.

For example, ICAO guidelines require a calculation of runway strength known as the pavement classification number (PCN). This number helps airports and airlines know if a given aircraft may put undue stress on a runway.

Airports of Thailand (AoT), which operates Suvarnabhumi, provided the PCN to the DCA, but DCA efforts to obtain the data and analysis that support the reported figure have failed.

"We just have to take AoT's word for it," Chaisak said. "We have to trust the project engineers. They know they will have to take responsibility if there is any problem."

Jaroon added that AoT recently reported the data was lost and proposed conducting a field test at the runway to substantiate the PCN figures.

The PCN figure was made public on May 25 when the DCA circulated to airlines its official Aeronautical Information Publication supplement for Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Suvarnabhumi's Somchai said he did not know the details of the engineering operation, but assured the professional standard of the construction team was high.

He also added that AoT, "had spent tens of millions of baht per year hiring ICAO as one of our consultants to help us meet international standards".

However, Tortrakul Yomanark, former president of the Engineering Association of Thailand, urged the ICAO to become more involved in ensuring the safety standards of Suvarnabhumi.

"I understand that normally ICAO itself may not want to scrutinise individual airports," Tortrakul said. "But Suvarnabhumi is not an ordinary case. Political interference has been so notorious that people involved cannot do their job professionally and independently. It's the politicians who would like to see the airport open in a rush."

 "I would like to ask the ICAO if safety problems arise after the airport is open, can it avoid responsibility?" he said.

Repeated efforts by The Nation to discuss these matters with ICAO in advance of this article have been unsuccessful.

Chaisak said his department will issue an "interim" certificate this week, to meet AoT's plans to accept paying passengers when airlines begin testing domestic flights next Saturday.

Six months after the airport has been in full operation the DCA intends to issue more comprehensive accreditation.

One issue that is not being addressed through the present certification process is airport security in the post-9/11 world. ICAO has geared up its efforts to have airports audit and improve their security procedures.

"We've reviewed their [Suvarnabhumi Airport] security procedures and infrastructure, and are confident all is in order, but this is not part of the pending certification," Chaisak said.

Also absent now will be certification of the airport's operational procedures pertaining to the management of passenger terminal, cargo and baggage.

"It [this certificate] does not give any indication about the airport's efficiency," Albert Tjoeng, corporate manager of International Air Transport Association, said in an email.

"What is important is to have Suvarnabhumi Airport begin commercial operations only when it is operationally ready," advised Tjoeng.

But as Chaisak points out, this is all a learning process, and after all, Thailand has not had any major airport problems in the past.

"We've all trusted for decades AoT's ability to manage safety at Don Muang, so there's no reason why we can't trust it to continue to do a good job at Suvarnabhumi."

Nantiya Tangwisutijit

The Nation