Computer glitches mar Suvarnabhumi inauguration
Passengers at Bangkok's new international airport Thursday faced delays in collecting their bags and checking in on the first full day of operations because of computer and mechanical glitches.
Thousands of passengers arriving on the first flights had to wait one hour to collect their bags as equipment was slow in arriving from the old airport, which closed during the night.
"The delay was caused by the delay of moving Thai Airways ground handling equipment from the old airport to the new one," said Chotisak Asapaviriya, president of Airports of Thailand, which operates the facility.
"It's just a minor error, and it will be the only one. We will never let this happen again," he said.
But at Thai Airways check-in counters, computers crashed before the first flights out of the new Suvarnabhumi Airport, causing delays as airline workers had to issue handwritten boarding passes and baggage claim tags.
That left long lines, but many passengers seemed prepared for delays on the first full day of operations, when some 800 flights will fly through.
"Today is the first day, so we don't expect anything to go well," said Paul Millar, a 46-year-old Briton who works in Bangkok.
"Fortunately we arrived early just in case," he said.
The first commercial flight that landed at new airport following its official opening was Russian Airlines' V V171 from Kiev, which landed at 4:25 am, which was ten minutes behind schedule due to poor visibility.
Airport officials, who were waiting for the first group of passengers, gave them applause and some souvenirs.
But before the official opening, three cargoes flights of Untied Airlines and Northwest Airlines landed at the airport at about 11 pm Wednesday night.
During Suvarnabhumi Airport's soft opening on September 15y, an airport official pulled down the wrong power breaker, causing a blackout that caused a half-hour delay in the first commercial flight from this shiny facility.
Then caretaker Transport Minister Pongsak Ruktapongpisal immediately instructed Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT) to take legal and harsh action against the official.
Instead of taking off at the scheduled time of 6.30am, the first flight - THAI flight TG8860 - departed for Phitsanulok 30 minutes late.
Agence France-Presse, The Nation
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