Which airports should be completely demolished and rebuilt?
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at 02:40 by Huitsix.
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AnthonyDunnParticipant@ IanFromHKG – 25/09/2015 09:35 BST
Who you should blame for short-termism with ChepLapKok is neither HMG nor the Transportation Department of the HK Government but the Government of the People’s Republic of China.
Having been a party to the decision making around the handover in 1997, the Beijing Government did a Violet Elizabeth about the building of a new airport: they squeemed and squeemed and squeemed, accusing HMG (and the then HK Governor) of raiding the territory’s balances for the benefit of British companies and to render a post-handover territory devoid of resources. We can all see that their position was ludicrous and that the stance taken by HMG was entirely correct: a much needed replacement for KaiTak was delivered on-time and on-cost – but a compromise had to be made to shut up Beijing: the extra terminal capacity.
But the one thing that the mainland Chinese government never does it admit its own mistakes and short-comings. Ever.
Thanks for the advance warning on BKK – which I will shortly be sampling/enduring for myself – including the new CX lounge.
25 Sep 2015
at 11:43
MrDarwinParticipantI can’t help but think… what are we asking for here? We’d like super hub airports that fly to hundreds or thousands of destinations, offering flexible scheduling through multiple daily flights…. from an airport with just a quick, convenient short stroll from security to gates, security to lounge, lounge to gates, gates to gates for transfers. With optional/less shopping.
The only way I could see that physically being achieved is a multistorey airport with higher airport fees to counter the reduction in retail revenue. Travel has changed, traveller demand is driving bigger airports and the bigger the airport, usually, the greater the inconvenience/distance to walk between airport rituals.
I personally don’t mind the shopping-run after security thing, it traps more people in there which means less people in the terminal/lounge.
25 Sep 2015
at 12:25
AlsacienneParticipantSTANSTED shopping mall and PHILADELPHIA A-WEST … what a welcome to the USA (not).
25 Sep 2015
at 13:00
transtraxmanParticipantBeware of heavy drinkers…………
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-34350375
25 Sep 2015
at 15:17
AMcWhirterParticipantTim –
That BER article dates back to July. Recently the construction teams have found more problems and so even the revised opening date of 2017 is in doubt.
And when BER does open it will be busy from day one as not only must be absorb the traffic from TXL (assuming it is closed down as planned) but Berlin air traffic is growing year on year.
25 Sep 2015
at 15:27
TimFitzgeraldTCParticipantHi Alex
Yes it is a bit late. But fascinating the story behind the events so far (to that point). I’m not expecting anything before 2020!
Sad really that they have made a complete pigs ear of it.
25 Sep 2015
at 15:36
IanFromHKGParticipantAnthonyDunn, I hope for your sake that the new CX lounge (which opened earlier this year, and which I haven’t yet tried) is an improvement on the old!
Oh, and I am well aware of the politics around CLKIA – that is why I said the question of who to blame was too long and complicated!
26 Sep 2015
at 00:53
canuckladParticipantMorning Tim, cheers for the Brandenburg link….good to see another country apart from ourselves make a dog’s dinner of a major building project. I remember using the place years ago when construction had already started.
Ironic, that it’s in the city that built the airport that was to become the template for all future airports….26 Sep 2015
at 08:06
AnthonyDunnParticipant@ canucklad – 26/09/2015 09:06 BST
The truth is that plenty of places make an absolute horlicks of their major infrastructure projects. It is just that we in the UK, with an hubristic meedjah that delights in pointing out how incompetent everyone is but themselves, make a very particular point of flagging up any shortcomings – and in a way that is pretty much unrivalled anywhere else in the world.
The Berlin Brandenburg fiasco should be viewed for what it is: a world-class balls up! Yes, even the Germans can comprehensively bog it. I loved Siemens’ “blocking” response when quizzed about their responsibility for the alarm system wiring debacle. The architecture aside, it might just be that the Berlin authorities should have insisted that their contractors dismantle it all and start again. The fact that the opening could well be up to eight years late, the budget has mushroomed and they have pretty much dried out the well of excuses for this ineptitude says it all.
28 Sep 2015
at 09:02
AMcWhirterParticipantRe: Berlin Brandenburg
We’ve just posted a news piece about this airport. More problems have been encountered and some critics are now suggesting it be demolished and rebuilt.
Tegel will remain operational for longer (this is something we reported last December) but now the latest news is that Schonefeld will be expanded.
http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/101093/berlin-brandenburg-will-it-ever-open
28 Sep 2015
at 09:27
canuckladParticipantMorning AD,
Interestingly enough, Siemens was also a major contributor up here in Edinburgh to the fiasco that , and in the very annoying tradition of sticking the word “Gate” at the end of another word thus linking it to something controversial/illegal……..Tramgate
Widely known that they acted unscrupulously when they realised the local councillors who negotiated the contracts were lacking in every sense ……..business acumen and more importantly naïve ty ……
28 Sep 2015
at 10:10
AnthonyDunnParticipant@ canucklad – 28/09/2015 11:10 BST
And there I was thinking that the erstwhile GEC Avionics had invented the dictionary of excuses for project delays and cost overruns on systems design and integration – it was the Nimrod Airborne Early Warning programme that I recall only too painfully, before it was cancelled after some £hundreds of millions (or was it billions?). Maybe they had Siemens (UK) as a subby?
28 Sep 2015
at 12:14
Charles-PParticipantAnthonyDunn – regretfully the RAF and radar systems have a long history of supplier failure. The Panavia Tornado was an obvious example with the ‘Foxhunter’ radar replaced by concrete blocks at one point. Known to the crews as the ‘Blue Circle Radar’ after the famous brand of cement.
28 Sep 2015
at 12:19 -
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