In an attempt to restore confidence among airlines and
passengers following Thursday’s power system failure at Suvarnabhumi
Airport, Transport Minister Jarupong Ruangsuwan on Friday ordered a probe
into the incident with results to be concluded within 15 days.
The problem caused delays for 50 flights and forced 13
aircraft to land elsewhere - six flights at U-Tapao Airport, two each to
Chiang Mai International Airport, Phuket International Airport and
Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur International Airport, as well as one at Cambodia’s
Siem Reap International Airport.
The probe will be headed by Silpachai Jarukasemra,
permanent secretary for transport, together with a special fact-finding
committee, including experts.
“The investigation will examine causes of the incident,
whether or not were related to technical glitches, accidents or human error,
as well as providing short-, medium- and long-term measures to prevent any
repetition of such a problem,” Jarupong said.
Meanwhile, officials from Aeronautical Radio of Thailand
and Airports of Thailand have been assigned to thoroughly study the incident
and draft emergency management procedures for their staff to deal with such
an emergency.
The order came after Jarupong and Deputy Transport
Minister Chadchart Sittipunt inspected the scene after the power supply from
an uninterruptible power source (UPS) caused problems for radar controlling
flights landing at the country’s main international airport, affecting
operations of some 50 flights.
While experiencing the radar system failure, 21 flights
were waiting, queuing to depart and take off at Suvarnabhumi Airport with
the longest at 105 minutes, while 15 flights were in the air, queuing to
land with delays of 30 minutes on average, while the longest delay was 71
minutes.
In a related development, Squadron Leader Prajak
Sajjasophon, president of Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, admitted that such
an incident occurred in 2008 when monitors of the closed-circuit television
system experienced glitches.
The AEROTHAI chief explained that the latest incident
resulted from the failure of the power supply from an uninterruptible power
source which disrupted the electrical power used for the air traffic control
for half an hour, causing a radar system failure for both Don Mueang and
Suvarnabhumi airports.
As an initial solution, the officials applied the radio
communication signal to manage the air traffic control in accordance with
the emergency response plan.
The AEROTHAI president said that the life of the
uninterruptible power source is seven years and that the UPS has been used
for six years, admitting that some technical glitches which were beyond
control might have occurred.
However, AEROTHAI has been improving the UPS system to
100 percent to prevent power failures which will be completed in August.
Following the incident, Suvarnabhumi Airport Director
Somchai Sawasdeepon denied that airlines asked for compensation, saying that
AoT has already made an explanation to the airline operators that the
incident was beyond capability.
Meanwhile, the ongoing runway maintenance was expected to
be completed by August 9, Somchai added. (MCOT)
