A committee established to investigate damage in the surfaces of Bangkok's new international airport failed to conclude Monday whether cracks in the taxiways were caused by design flaws, the selection of building materials used, or problems during construction.
Members of the panel said at a press conference that the ruts in taxiways at Suvarnabhumi airport, built on a swamp and opened last September, were caused by underground water seepage. Tortrakul Yomnak, who heads the investigating team, said the damage does not pose a threat to safety and would not require the airport to be completely shut down for repairs.
The Thai government last week agreed to reopen the old airport at Don Muang north of Bangkok for international and domestic flights to ease congestion due to repair work at the new airport, which is east of the Thai capital.
Whether the new airport will be closed for repair will be decided on Wednesday, and the decision will be based on the investigating panel's study, said Transport Minister Thira Hao-Charoen.
Suvarnabhumi airport was intended to be Southeast Asia's leading air hub. Instead, the facility has become a national embarrassment with widely publicized problems that include the taxiway cracks, a shortage of toilets, dozens of design flaws and a long list of corruption allegations.
"Damage to runways is much less than to taxiways and it is only at the beginning of the east and west runways on the surface level," said Tortrakul, who is also a member of the board of the state Airports of Thailand, the airports' operator. He suggested that each runway can be closed alternately for repair, which should take around two weeks.
The panel said it would continue to investigate the causes of the problems but did not specify a time frame for its study.
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