Suvarnabhumi Airport

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Suvarnabhumi Airport
ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ
IATA: BKK - ICAO: VTBS
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Airports of Thailand Public Co Ltd
Serves Bangkok
Elevation AMSL 4.6 ft (1.4 m)
Coordinates 13°41′22.88″N, 100°44′32.94″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
01R/19L 13,124 4,000 Asphalt
01L/19R 12,136 3,700 Asphalt
Suvarnabhumi Airport
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Suvarnabhumi Airport
Control Tower
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Control Tower

Suvarnabhumi Airport, also known as (New) Bangkok International Airport (IATA: BKK, ICAO: VTBS), (Thai: ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ), (pronounced: suwanapoom) is the international airport serving Bangkok, Thailand. After numerous delays, the airport opened for limited service on 15 September 2006, and opened for all commercial flights on 28 September. [1] The airport is the main hub for Thai Airways International and the secondary hub for China Airlines.

The airport is located in Racha Thewa in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan Province, about 25 km east of Bangkok. The name Suvarnabhumi (Thai: สุวรรณภูมิ; pronounced su-wan-na-poom) was chosen by King Bhumibol Adulyadej and refers to the ancient kingdom hypothesized to have been located somewhere in Southeast Asia. Designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects, this airport has the world's tallest control tower (132.2 m), and the world's second largest single building and airport terminal (563,000 m²), just a little smaller than Hong Kong International Airport (570,000 m²) but larger than South Korea's Incheon International Airport (496,000 m²). The airport replaced the old Don Mueang International Airport which was the fourth busiest airport for passenger traffic in Asia in 2005 (behind Tokyo's Haneda Airport, Beijing Capital International Airport, and Hong Kong International Airport) as Bangkok's primary airport for all commercial airline flights. [2] It also inherited the IATA Airport Code BKK from Don Mueang after it was decommissioned.

Contents

[edit] History

The plot of land occupied by the airport with an approximate area of 8,000 acres (20,000 rai, or 324 km²) was purchased in 1973, but the student uprising on October 14 of the same year was followed by the overthrowing the military government of Thanom Kittikachorn and the project was shelved[citation needed]. After a series of ups and downs, the "New Bangkok International Airport" company (NBIA) was formed in 1996. Due to political and economic instabilities, notably the Asian financial crisis of 1997, the civil construction began six years later in January 2002. The airport is located in a once low-lying marsh, formerly known as Nong Ngu Hao (Thai: หนองงูเห่า, lit. "Cobra Swamp"), which took about 5 years (1997 - 2001) to clear through land reclamation. In 2005, the construction supervision and management was transferred to the Airports of Thailand PLC, while the NBIA company was dissolved.

The airport was due to open in late 2005, but a series of budget overruns, construction flaws, political interference and allegations of corruption continues to plague the project. After much speculation, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra announced that the airport would be open by September 2006 at the latest. Symbolic first test flights involving two Thai Airways aircraft were held on September 29, 2005, a previously announced deadline for opening.

Full tests of the airport, with seats sold to the public, took place on July 3 and July 29, 2006. Six airlines – Thai Airways International, Nok Air, Thai Air Asia, Bangkok Airways, PBAir and One-Two-GO – used the airport as a base for 20 domestic flights. [3] [4] The first international test flights were conducted on September 1, 2006. Two THAI's aircraft, B747-400 and A300-600, simultaneously departed the airport on 9.19am to Singapore and Hong Kong. On 3.50pm the same aircraft flew back and made concurrent touchdowns on runways 19L and 19R. These test flights demonstrated the readiness of the airport to handle heavy traffic.

On 15 September 2006, the airport started limited operations with Jetstar Asia Airways operating three flights daily to Singapore and Thai Airways International operating some domestic flights to Phitsanulok, Chiang Mai and Ubon Ratchathani. Bangkok Airways moved on 21 September, AirAsia and Thai AirAsia followed suit on 25 September and on 26 September Nok Air moved to Suvarnabhumi Airport. During this initial phase, as well as in the previous tests, the airport used the temporary IATA code NBK.

Shopping Plaza Suvarnambhumi Airport
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Shopping Plaza Suvarnambhumi Airport

Suvarnabhumi officially opened at 3:00am on September 28, 2006, taking over all flights from Don Mueang. The first flight to arrive was Lufthansa Cargo flight LH8442 from Mumbai at 3:05am. [1] The first commercial arrival was from Japan Airlines at 3:30am. The first passenger arrival was Aerosvit flight VV171 from Kiev at 4:30am [2], and the first cargo departure was Saudi Arabian Airlines flight SV-984 to Riyadh at 5:00am. [3] [4] Aerosvit also had the first passenger departure (VV172 to Kiev) [5] around 5:30am.

Many difficulties were recorded the first few days. On the first day alone, sluggish luggage claims were rampant (the very first passenger arrival by Aerosvit took an hour for the luggage to start coming out, and some flight did not have their luggage coming out after four hours [6]), many flights were delayed (Thai Airlines claimed that 17 of 19 flights were delayed that day [7]), and there were also failures of the check-in system [8]. Subsequent problems included the failure of the cargo computer system [9], and the departure boards displaying the wrong information, resulting in confused passengers (especially as unlike Don Mueang, there were no "final calls" issued) [10].

[edit] Specifications

Suvarnabhumi Airport layout
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Suvarnabhumi Airport layout

Costing an estimated 155 billion baht [11], the airport has 2 parallel runways (60 m wide, 4000 m and 3700 m long) and two parallel taxiways to accommodate simultaneous departures and arrivals. It has a total of 120 parking bays (51 with contact gates and 69 remote gates), with five of these capable of accommodating the Airbus A380. The main passenger terminal building, with a capacity of handling 76 flight operations per hour, co-locates the international and domestic terminals, though assigning them to different parts of the concourse. In the initial phase of construction, it will be capable of handling 45 million passengers and 3 million tonnes of cargo per year. Above the future underground rail link station and in front of the passenger terminal building is a 600-room hotel operated by Accor Group under the Novotel brand. Between the airport hotel and the terminal building are the two 5-storey car parks with a combined capacity of 5,000 cars.

Long-term plans for four runways flanking two main terminals and two satellite buildings with a combined capacity capable of handling up to 100 million passengers and 6.4 million tonnes of cargo a year are on the drawing board. The second phase of airport expansion involving the construction of a satellite building south of the main terminal is expected to begin 3 to 5 years after the completion of the first main terminal.


Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT), the owner of Suvarnabhumi Airport, announced on 21 July 2006 that a separate terminal for low-cost airlines will be built at the airport at a cost

Courtyard garden and massive concourse of Suvarnabhumi International Airport
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Courtyard garden and massive concourse of Suvarnabhumi International Airport

of 600 million baht (15.8 million dollars). The budget terminal will be located near Concourse A of the main terminal. It is capable of handling 15 million passengers per year. Its operating concept will be modeled after the LCC terminals of Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Singapore Changi Airport.

Despite claims from the owner of the airport that the new passenger terminal building is the world's largest at 563,000 m², Hong Kong International Airport still stays number one with 570,000 m², as the airport completed expanding the existing terminal in 2004 from 550,000 m² to make room for the greatly expanded shopping mall, SkyMart, at the East Hall area. The control tower, however, is the tallest in the world at 132.2m, topping Kuala Lumpur's by about 2 meters.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

[edit] International Airlines (scheduled flights)

[edit] International Airlines (charter flights)

[edit] Domestic Airlines

  • AirAsia
    • Thai AirAsia (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hat Yai, Krabi, Naratiwat, Phuket, Surat Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani)
  • Bangkok Airways (Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Krabi, Phuket, Sukhothai, Trat, Utapao-Rayong)
  • Orient Thai Airlines
    • One-Two-GO (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hat Yai, Khon Kaen, Krabi, Phitsanulok, Phuket, Surat Thani))
  • PBAir (Buriram, Lampang, Mae Hong Son, Nakhon Phanom, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Nan, Roi Et, Sakon Nakhon)
  • SGA Airlines (Hua Hin)
  • Thai Airways International (Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, HatYai, Khon Kaen, Krabi, Mae Hong Son, Nakhon Si Thamarat, Phitsanulok, Phuket, Surat Thani, Trang, Ubon Ratchatani, Udon Thani)
    • Nok Air (Chaing Mai, Hat Yai, Loei, Mae Hong Son, Nakhon Si Thanarat, Phuket, Trang, Udon Thani)

[edit] Cargo Airlines

[edit] Transportation

The dropoff area
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The dropoff area

[edit] Train

Main article: Suvarnabhumi Airport Link

The construction of the City Airport Terminal in Makkasan and a 28.6 km high-speed rail link to the new airport started in July 2005 and are planned for completion in November 2007, although this deadline, too, seems unlikely to be met. The airport express, informally known as the Pink Line and operated jointly with SRT's planned Red Line commuter service, will connect with the BTS Sukhumvit Line (Green Line, Route 1) and MRT Blue Line at Phaya Thai and Phetchaburi stations respectively, offering airport-bound passengers a fast 15-minute limited stop journey from the city.

Meanwhile, SRT provides a suburban commuter train service between Hua Takhe (the nearest station to Suvarnabhumi on the East line) and the northern suburban city of Rangsit via downtown Bangkok and the old Don Mueang Airport. The train also connects with BTS and MRT at Phaya Thai and Phetchaburi stations respectively. Passengers pay a flat fare of Bt30. A shuttle bus service linking the airport with Hua Takhe railway station is provided by BMTA for Bt15. The train service is currently not as popular as the bus service because the fact that it requires a shuttle bus connection. The service will be stopped when the Airport Express Link is completed.

[edit] Bus

The airport operates 4 airport express bus routes to downtown Bangkok. The buses are air-conditioned with ample luggage space. The fare is 150 baht for the entire route. Passengers can get on the bus on the first floor of the terminal. The four routes are as follows:

AE1 Suvarnabhumi-Silom Rd. (by expressway)
AE2 Suvarnabhumi-Khao San Rd.(by expressway)
AE3 Suvarnabhumi-Central World via Sukhumvit Rd.
AE4 Suvarnabhumi-Hua Lamphong (central Bangkok Railway Station) via Victory Monument(by expressway)


Additionally, 12 city bus routes operated by Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) serve the airport's dedicated bus terminal. City buses offer a cheaper alternative of Bt35 flat fare, compared with the airport express bus, but passengers must take a shuttle bus to the public transportation center's bus terminal before they can board the bus. The 12 routes are as follows:

549 Suvarnabhumi-Minburi-Bangkapi via Seri Thai Rd.
550 Suvarnabhumi-Happy Land
551 Suvarnabhumi-Victory Monument (by expressway)
552 Suvarnabhumi-Khlong Toei (Customs Dept.) via Onnut BTS station
552A Suvarnabhumi-Samut Prakarn (Praeksa Garage)
553 Suvarnabhumi-Samut Prakarn (Crocodile Farm Garage)
554 Suvarnabhumi-Rangsit via Don Mueang and Ram Indra Rd. (by expressway)
555 Suvarnabhumi-Rangsit via Don Mueang and Central Plaza LadPhrao (by expressway)
556 Suvarnabhumi-Bangkok Southern Bus Terminal via Democracy Monument and Khaosan Rd.(by expressway)
557 Suvarnabhumi-Wong Wian Yai (The Great Circle)
558 Suvarnabhumi-Central Plaza Rama II
559 Suvarnabhumi-Future Park Rangsit via Dream World (by expressway)

There are also direct long-distance services to Pattaya and Nong Khai operated by the Transport Company.

All of the city buses and inter-city buses are air-conditioned.

[edit] Taxi

Metered taxis are available outside the exit on the 1st floor. There is a 50 baht surcharge on the meter. The trips to the city will cost 300 – 400 baht (plus highway tolls about 60 baht) and take 40 – 60 min. depending on traffic. Additionally, flat-fare limousine are available at Arrivals Level (2nd floor). Two limousine service are provided from THAI and the Airport of Thailand (AOT).

[edit] Car

The airport has 5 main access routes. Among these the most convenient route is via the Bangkok-Chon Buri Motorway (Highway No. 7).

[edit] Departure tax

International travellers departing the airport must pay a 500 baht tax levied by the airport operator, Airports of Thailand. The tax is not included in the price of airline tickets. It is paid to airport staff before queuing for immigration processing. On February 1, 2007, the international departure tax will be raised to 700 baht. [5]

[edit] References

  1. ^ USA Today, "Bangkok's new airport opens to first commercial flights", September 15, 2006.
  2. ^ "New airport operations costly to low-cost carriers", MCOT, July 16, 2006 (retrieved July 17, 2006).
  3. ^ ThaiDay, "THAI discounts tickets for historic test flights", July 1, 2006.
  4. ^ "PM Thaksin says Suvarnabhumi Airport ready in two months", MCOT, July 29, 2006.
  5. ^ Nation staff, August 29, 2006. "Airport fees to go up", The Nation (retrieved on September 2, 2006)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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