Govt, industry must join hand to achieve aviation-hub goal

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Govt, industry must join hand to achieve aviation-hub goal
By SUCHAT SRITAMA
The Nation 2011-03-28

Thailand could become a regional aviation hub if the government can come up with a clear strategy and action plan, plus upgrades in services of such key players as Thai Airways International and Airports of Thailand (AOT), as well as a reboot of Thai hospitality.

At a roundtable titled "Thailand: An Opportunity to Be a Global Aviation Hub" organised last week by Krungthep Turakij newspaper, key speakers from the tourism and aviation industries strongly agreed that Thailand had the potential to become such a hub if management and service issues could be improved. This would help improve the competitiveness of the country's tourism sector.

Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, AOT senior executive vice president for business development and marketing, said about 70 per cent of travellers at Singapore's Changi Airport stopped over and visited the city, while only 30 per cent were in transit. At Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport, 30 per cent of passengers stayed on in the Kingdom and 70 per cent transited to other countries.

"AOT aims to reverse the numbers. Seventy per cent should stop over in Thailand," he said.

That requires cooperation from all.

Pornthip Hirunkate, vice president of the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), urged the government and authorities involved in the aviation sector to consider long-term development if they want to see Thailand become a global or even a regional aviation hub.

"We have reached full capacity at two major airports, Suvarnabhumi and Phuket International, but haven't seen as yet any long-term development plan in preparation for the future," Pornthip said.

She said the TCT, the country's largest private tourism body, wanted to hear a 10-year strategy of forward thinking like that in many countries such as Singapore and South Korea.

She called for such participants as THAI, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, AOT and the private sector to work together to improve the standards of internal management and services.

Singapore, for instance, is already preparing for the regional open sky that will start in 2013 and for seamless trade within the Asean Economic Community in 2015. Thailand should get ready to |benefit from the open-sky policy.

Chokchai Panyayong, THAI executive vice president for strategy and business development, suggested that the government direct the future of the aviation industry if the country wants to become an aviation hub. Airports and airlines should also improve their services.

The results of a study on utilising Bangkok's two airports are expected to be announced soon. The International Air Transport Association has urged the government to use a single airport.

"Airlines and airports usually progress in the same way. Once an airport receives any global award, the airlines [associated with it] get recognition too. [Seoul's] Incheon Airport is a good example," Chokchai said.

He added that being an aviation hub did not just mean a good airport or airline, but whole areas of the city needed to be improved. The hub should also be able to encourage any airline to include it as a destination, not only for stopovers but for tourism.

Manassanant Tantiprasongchai, chief executive officer of Orient Thai Airlines, the country's major charter-flight operator, said the AOT needed to improve three kinds of services if it wanted Thailand to be a regional aviation hub: international management, communication, and traditional Thai services.

Orient Thai has retained its domestic service at Don Mueang and shifted international flights to Suvarnabhumi. Manassanant said a lot of customers preferred the old airport.

"At Suvarnabhumi Airport, we still have inconvenience due to a shortage of ramp bridges. We are considering relocating our service from the international terminal to the domestic terminal, but need time to think about it," she said.

Chokchai said THAI was trying to reduce the connecting time for passengers, which is 1.15 hours currently, much longer than in Munich, for example, where connections take about 30 minutes.

It also plans to use Don Mueang as a freighter centre to serve the growing cargo business.

Pornthip said the TCT believed that Thailand was already a tourism hub in the region with a strong presence of Thainess as well as products and services. However, these strengths have seemed to drop over past years and may soon lag behind some rivals.

"Smiling people at our airports, airlines and tour operators may be needed the most. Good airlines or airports alone will not help the entire industry," she said.

AOT has had a long-term plan to establish a regional aviation hub since Suvarnabhumi Airport opened five years ago. However, the airport this year fell to 40th from 24th place in the global airport ranking.

Nitinai said AOT would invest Bt60 billion to construct terminals and facilities in the second phrase of Suvarnabhumi Airport. Once the development is completed four years from now, capacity will be increased from the current 45 million passengers to 65 million.

Moreover, the company is investing Bt40 million in services and facilities at Suvarnabhumi Airport. It has started an "Airport of Smiles" campaign as part of its efforts to improve service standards.

For Don Mueang Airport, Nitinai said the company was looking at a number of options, including reopening it for domestic operations, making it a maintenance and parts centre, using it for private jet and charter flights, or housing a new exhibition centre.

In Phuket, AOT will spend Bt6 billion to expand the airport to accommodate more than 6 million passengers per year.

He acknowledged that making Thailand an aviation hub would need the government's support.