Suvarnabhumi Airport

"BKK" redirects here. For other meanings of BKK, see BKK (disambiguation).

Suvarnabhumi Airport ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ
File:Suvarnabhumi Airport Logo.svg
IATA: BKK ICAO: VTBS
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	Airports of Thailand
Serves	Bangkok
Location	Bang Phli, Samut Prakan, Thailand
Hub for	Asia Atlantic Airlines Bangkok Airways Business Air Jet Asia Airways Orient Thai Airlines Thai Airways International Thai Smile
Focus city for	Cathay Pacific China Airlines Emirates EVA Air SriLankan Airlines
Elevation AMSL	5 ft / 2 m
Website	SuvarnabhumiAirport.com
Map
BKK Location in Samut Prakan Province, Greater Bangkok Location of Samut Prakan in Thailand
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 01R/19L 4,260 13,976 Asphalt 01L/19R 3,810 12,500 Asphalt
Statistics (2012)
Passengers 53,002,328 Aircraft movements 312,493 Economic impact $7.2 billion Social impact 668.8 thousand
Source: Airports of Thailand

Suvarnabhumi Airport (Template:Lang-th; RTGS: Suwannaphum; pronounced [sù.wān.nā.pʰūːm] (Thai pronunciation); from Sanskrit, सुवर्णभूमि, "Golden Land"), (IATA: BKK, ICAO: VTBS), also known as (New) Bangkok International Airport, is one of two international airports serving Bangkok, Thailand. The other one is Don Mueang International Airport.

Suvarnabhumi was officially opened for limited domestic flight service on 15 September 2006, and opened for most domestic and all international commercial flights on 28 September 2006.

The airport is currently the main hub for Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways and Orient Thai Airlines. It also serves as regional gateway and connecting point for various foreign carriers.

The airport is located in Racha Thewa in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan Province, about 25 kilometres (16 mi) east of downtown Bangkok. The name Suvarnabhumi was chosen by King Bhumibol Adulyadej and refers to the golden kingdom hypothesised to have been located somewhere in Southeast Asia.

The building was designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy / Jahn Architects. It was constructed primarily by ITO JV. The airport has the world's tallest free-standing control tower (132.2 metres or 434 feet), and the world's fourth largest single-building airport terminal (563,000 square metres or 6,060,000 square feet).

Suvarnabhumi is the fourteenth busiest airport in the world, sixth busiest airport in Asia, and the busiest in the country, having handled 53 million passengers in 2012, and is also a major air cargo hub, with a total of 96 airlines. On social networks, Suvarnabhumi is the world's most popular place where Instagram photographs were taken in 2012.

The airport inherited the airport code, BKK, from Don Mueang after the older airport ceased international commercial flights. A modern motorway no.7 connects the airport, Bangkok, and the heavily industrial Eastern Seaboard of Thailand, where most of the manufacturing for export takes place.

History

Terminal interior

Border between the concourse and the terminal seen from the arrival area

Terminal

Inner courtyard as seen from the luggage claim room

Inner courtyard and terminal structure by night

Departure hall

A play area, entitled Wonder World, at the airport's departure lounge

A depiction of the Samudra manthan at the airport

Land purchase, early construction

Planning of a second international airport for Bangkok started in the early 1960s. The process was slow from the start: as early as 1968, critics were already charging that the project was "five to seven years" behind the main schedule.

The 8,400 acres (3,400 ha) plot of land occupied by the airport was purchased in 1973, but the student-led protests on 14 October that year led the overthrow of the military government of Prime Minister Thanom Kittikachorn and the project was shelved. 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 by the government of Thaksin Shinawatra. The airport is located in a once low-lying marsh, formerly known as Nong Ngu Hao (Template:Lang-th, lit. "Cobra Swamp"), which took five years (1997–2001) to clear make a land reclamation. In 2005, the construction supervision and management was transferred to the Airports of Thailand PLC, while the NBIA company was dissolved.

Financing

Fifty percent of the airport's construction cost was covered by Airports of Thailand, while the another 50% was from a friendly agreement of AOT and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). Airport-related procurement followed JBIC's stringent guidelines for transparency and openness. Despite populism regarding the airport as being built for passengers, Thai and foreign exporting companies in the area for a long time wanted a round-the-clock airport built along with a modern motorway between factories, Bangkok, and the port of Laem Chabang.

Early construction, airport tests, and official opening

The airport was due to open in late 2005, but a series of budget overruns, construction flaws, and allegations of corruption plagued the project.

A further delay was caused by the discovery that the airport had been built over an old graveyard, and superstitious construction workers claimed to have seen ghosts there. On 23 September 2005, the Thai airports authority held a ceremony where 99 Buddhist monks chanted to appease the spirits.

Symbolic first test flights involving two Thai Airways aircraft were held on 29 September 2005, a previously announced deadline for opening.

Full tests of the airport took place on 3 and 29 July 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 twenty domestic flights. The first international test flights were conducted on 1 September 2006. Two THAI's aircraft, Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A300-600, simultaneously departed the airport at 09:19 to Singapore and Hong Kong. At 15:50 the same aircraft flew back and made simultaneous 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 daily operations with Jetstar Asia Airways operating three Singapore to Bangkok flights 3K511. The first commercial arrival Singapore flight 3K512 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.

Suvarnabhumi officially opened at 03:00 on 28 September 2006, taking over all flights from Don Mueang. The first flight to arrive was Lufthansa Cargo flight LH8442 from Mumbai at 03:05. The first commercial when officially opened arrival was from Japan Airlines at 03:30. The first passenger arrival was Aerosvit flight VV171 from Kiev at 04:30, and the first cargo departure was Saudi Arabian Airlines flight SV-984 to Riyadh at 05:00. Aerosvit also had the first passenger departure (VV172 to Kiev) around 05:30.

Initial difficulties

Many difficulties were recorded in the first few days of the airport's operation. On the first day alone, sluggish luggage claims were common – the very first passenger arrival by Aerosvit took an hour for the luggage to start coming out, and some flights did not have their luggage coming out even after four hours. Also flights were delayed (Thai Airways claimed that 17 of 19 flights were delayed that day), and there were also failures with the check-in system. Subsequent problems included the failure of the cargo computer system, and the departure boards displaying the wrong information, resulting in confused passengers (especially as unlike Don Muang, there were no "final calls" issued).

Months into its opening, issues such as congestion, construction quality, signage, provision of facilities, and soil subsidence continued to plague the project, prompting calls to reopen Don Mueang to allow for repairs to be done. Expert opinions varied widely regarding the extent of Suvarnabhumi's problems as well as their root cause; most airlines stated that damage to the airport was minimal. Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont decided on 16 February 2007 to reopen Don Mueang for domestic flights on a voluntary basis, with 71 weekly flights moved back initially, with no international flights allowed.

Capacity and safety issues

Problems with the tarmac

The Engineering Institute of Thailand conducted investigations at the airport in late 2006 after signs of distress were spotted at several locations in Suvarnabhumi's taxiways and taxilanes. Rutting was found in five of the six taxilanes and one of the six taxiways. Plastic deformation of the asphalt wearing course was observed near the takeoff position of the runway. The investigators noted, however, that plastic deformation at this location was a common phenomenon and only routine maintenance was required to repair the distress. Aside from this surface distortion, both runways were in good structural condition.

Further investigations found that taxilane and taxiway rutting was caused by separation of the asphalt binder from the aggregate surface due to prolonged water infiltration into the asphalt concrete base course, a phenomenon known as "stripping." The 23-centimetre (9.1 in) thick base course is the top-most layer of the tarmac. Core samples indicated that the concrete base course material contained the correct job mix and aggregate gradation. Below the base course are the binder course, and the cement-treated base.

Detailed investigations found that water seepage was evident along the rims of the expansion joints in the cement-tested base, indicating that a large quantity of water was still trapped in the sand blanket (the bottom-most layer of the tarmac). It was found that water trapped in the sand blanket was fully confined with no connection to the pavement areas of the airport. A later investigation by the AoT identified several potential reasons for the trapped water in the sand blanket. The AoT's findings were disputed by several experts.

The Engineering Institute of Thailand sent a formal warning to the AoT in November 2006 about the urgent need to drain water from beneath the tarmac, and the need for immediate action. "The AOT did nothing about the problem," Suebsak Promboon of the EIT later noted. "The situation might not have become this bad if the water had been drained then."

In January 2007, ruts were discovered in the runways at Suvarnabhumi. The east runway was scheduled to close for repairs. Expert opinions have varied widely as to the root cause of the ruts. Airport authorities and airline representatives maintained that the airport was still safe and resisted suggestions that the airport should be completely closed and all flights moved back to Don Muang.

On 27 January 2007, however, the Department of Civil Aviation declined to renew the airport's safety certificate, which expired the previous day. The ICAO requires that international airports hold aerodrome safety certificates, but Suvarnabhumi will continue to operate because the ICAO requirement has yet to be adopted as part of Thai law.

Capacity

The airport has two parallel runways (60 m. wide, 4,260 m. and 3,810 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) and 8 parking bays (5 contact gates and 3 remote gates) of these are capable of accommodating the Airbus A380 aircraft. With a capacity of handling 76 flight operations per hour, both international and domestic flights will share the airport terminal but will be assigned 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. Between the airport hotel and the terminal building are the two 5-storey car park buildings with a combined capacity of 5,400 cars.

Plans to re-open Don Mueang for domestic flights

In January 2007, Thai Airways announced a plan to move some of its domestic operations back to Don Muang International Airport due to overcrowding. Three days later, the Ministry of Transport recommended temporarily reopening Don Muang while repair work on the runways at Suvarnabhumi proceeds. At that time, Thai Airways said it would shift most of its domestic flights back to Don Muang while keeping flights with high international passenger connections such as Chiang Mai and Phuket at Suvarnabhumi. On 28 March 2009, Thai Airways discontinued all domestic flights from Don Muang. Bangkok Airways and One-Two-GO had similar plans, but Bangkok Airways remained at Suvarnabhumi. Thai AirAsia said it would not move unless it could shift both its international and domestic operations, prompting them to stay at Suvarnabhumi for the time being. Nok Air and PBair were undecided, but Nok Air later relocated all their flights to Don Muang, where they operate today. As of January 2010, only Nok Air and One-Two-Go operate domestic flights from Don Muang Airport. PBair have ceased operations altogether. One-Two-Go was integrated into Orient Thai Airlines in July 2010, but continues to operate from Don Muang Airport. As of 1 October 2012 Air Asia has moved all of its Bangkok operations to Don Muang International Airport (DMK) from Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK).

Thai Airbus A340 (HS-TLA) at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Repair and upgrades

Airports of Thailand found that the cost of fixing 60 identified problems at the airport would be less than 1% of the total airline cost and the problems could be fixed in up to four to five years. Dr. Narupol Chaiyut, a member of a committee overseeing service problems at the new airport, estimated that 70% of the problems would be fixed within 2007. 20 of the 60 problems were successfully fixed by February 2007.

Features

Structural design

Suvarnabhumi Airport's main terminal roof is designed with structural elements and bays placed in a cantilevered, wavelike form to appear to “float” over the concourse beneath. This overall design principal was to express the former essence of the site, from which the water had to be drained before construction could begin. The eight composite 2,710-ton trusses supporting the canopy of the main terminal are essentially diagrams of the bending movements acting on them, with the greatest depth at mid-span and over the supports. These mega-trusses are composed of three smaller trusses joined via pin connections: the middle truss acting similarly to a drop-in beam flanked by two cantilevered trusses. The outer and inner trusses address compression inversely to one another. Whereas the top of the middle truss is formed by two cords to account for the compression of the roof structure, the bottom of the cantilevered trusses is formed by two chords, sense the concentration of compression reverses when the outer-trusses are cantilevered.

The integration of structural form into overall aesthetics is a phenomenon personally described by Helmut Jahn as “archi-neering”. These integrations include works on the advanced long span lightweight steel trusses coupled with exposed pre-cast concrete structures, low e-coated glass facade system, three layer translucent membrane, integrated cooling, using water as a low-energy carrier, the thermal mass of concrete, and a displacement ventilation system with minimal air-changes.

The result of Helmut Jahn’s vision is a structure with performance materials serve in their total composition and in use more than in their conventional roles. This maximizes daylight use in comfort with substantial energy life-cycle cost savings. The installed cooling system reduced up to 50% compared to a conventional system. A translucent membrane with three layers was developed to mediate between the interior and exterior climate, dealing with noise and temperature transmission, while still allowing natural flow of daylight into building.

Structural facade

Suvarnabhumi Airport's main terminal's characteristic green building envelope is 100 ft (30 Meters) high and runs throughout the perimeter for a total of 3610 ft (1,100 meters). Utilizing a minimalist structural form of point fix facade called the "cable truss system", it was believed by many as the largest spider fixing glass facade at the time of its completion. The structure relied on previously establishing tension in a highly compacted dia.14mm stainless steel cable supported by compression spreader strut elements between two vertical trusses to provide a horizontal truss system. Dead loads are supported by dia.16mm high tensile stainless rod that were engineered right inside the main body of the point fix clamp making the DL rods to appear hidden between the glass silicon.

Flood protection

Suvarnabhumi Airport has taken numerous measures to protect it from flooding. The airport was built on a watershed. The airport area is surrounded by a 3-metre high, 23.5 km long earth dyke. Within the area protected by the dyke there are numerous canals, including one running along the inside of the dyke, which drain into 6 reservoirs. The reservoirs hold up to 4 million cubic metes of water. At the southern boundary of the airport there are two water pumping stations, each has 4 pumps that pump 12 cubic metres (12,000 litres) of water per second (or 1 million cubic metres per day). The pumped water is discharged into 2 canals, Khlong Lat Krabang and Khlong Bang Chalong, which flow south to the Gulf of Thailand.

Events

Suvarnabhumi Airport Control Tower, the world's tallest

See also: People's Alliance for Democracy § Seizure of Suvarnabhumi International Airport

On 25 January 2007, due to work to the upgrading the taxiways, which suffered from small cracks, few incoming flights were delayed and several flights were safely diverted to a nearby operating U-Tapao International Airport in Rayong province.

On 26 November 2008, an illegal occupation of the airport took place by People's Alliance for Democracy, closing the departure lounge and blocking exits and causing almost three thousand passengers stranded within the main terminal, another 350,000 were stranded inside the country, as all flights were grounded for a short while. The People's Alliance for Democracy seized the control tower at 12:00 am. On 2 December 2008, protesters agreed to leave the airport as they had been illegally protesting and permitted the resumption of flights. Security checks, clean-ups and re-certification once the illegal occupation ended delayed the airport from being fully functional until 5 December 2008.

Warnings of corruption and potential legal issues

In 2009, the Irish Government warned its citizens to be on guard while browsing in the airport's shops. "We have received reports that innocent shoppers have been the subject of allegations of suspected theft and threatened that their cases will not be heard for several months unless they plead guilty and pay substantial fines," the Irish government wrote in a travel advisory, which also advised shoppers to retain all receipts to "avoid great distress." This practice has been reported repeatedly in King Power – the most common of the airport's duty free shops.

Britain and Denmark also posted online advisories about hard-to-detect demarcation lines between shops in Suvarnabhumi's sprawling duty-free zone and warned shoppers to be alert about carrying unpaid merchandise across the lines.

Predatory irregularities

Petty thieves and confidence men, the majority of them illegal taxi drivers or tour guides, are known to prey on tourists in the arrival hall. They belong to politically-well connected criminal groups: Kamnan Samruay, Boonruang Srisang, Sak Pakphanang, the Pattaya Mafia and Phuyai Daeng. Evicting them has proved difficult as they allegedly are well connected (the head of the Pirap gang is supposedly related to an Airports of Thailand executive, while the Phuyai Daeng has ties to influential civil servants in Samut Prakan).

On 1 October 2010, two hundred armed men occupied the airport's parking area for an hour, blocking the building's entrances and seizing ticket booths to collect fares from motorists. Airport security personnel failed to respond, reportedly because of an internal dispute within the Parking Management Company, the firm contracted to run the parking facilities.

Specifications

Airport layout

The Second phase of Suvarnabhumi airport

Costing an estimated ฿155 billion (US$ 5 billion), the airport has two parallel runways (60 m wide, 4,000 m and 3,700 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 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 include five runways flanking two main terminals, two satellite buildings and a domestic terminal will have a combined capacity capable of handling more than 150 million passengers and 6.4 million tonnes of cargo a year were settled clearly on the drawing board. The second phase of airport expansion which involves the construction of a satellite building south of the main terminal and a domestic terminal is expected to begin construction early 2012.

The airport's passenger terminal is the world's largest passenger terminal ever constructed in one phase at 563,000 square metres (6,060,000 sq ft), and is also currently the fourth biggest passenger terminal building in the world, after the Hong Kong International Airport (570,000 square metres or 6,100,000 square feet), Beijing Capital International Airport (990,000 square metres or 10,700,000 square feet), with the largest passenger terminal being at Dubai International Airport (Terminal 3 is over 1,500,000 square metres or 16,000,000 square feet). The airport air-traffic control tower is the tallest in world history at 135 metres (443 ft).

Suvarnabhumi Airport has 72 jet bridges and 69 non-jet bridges. Additionally, flights are also able to park at remote locations on the ramp, from which airport buses transport passengers to and from the terminal. Suvarnabhumi Airport has 18 jet bridges and 6 non-jet bridges for Airbus 380–800

Expansion

On 15 December 2011 Airports of Thailand (AOT) announced to speed up the second phase expansion of Suvarnabhumi Airport to 2016, one year ahead of its scheduled completion in 2017. An investment of 62.5 billion baht ($1.95 billion USD/€1.49 billion EURO) is being planned for the second phase, according to then Transport Minister Sukampol Suwannathat. The plan is to strengthen Suvarnabhumi Airport’s position as a regional aviation hub. Phase Two would raise the airport's capacity to 65 million passengers a year and should also be undertaken in parallel with the construction of the new domestic terminal. Earlier transport Minister ACM Sukampol Suwannathat gave the green light to Airports of Thailand (AoT)'s plan to carry out the expansion of Suvarnabhumi airport with the construction of a new domestic terminal. The new domestic terminal will be capable of handling 20 million passengers a year. Estimated cost is 9.2 billion Baht. The two expansion projects are part of the overall airport enlargement that would see Suvarnabhumi raise its annual passenger handling capacity to 120 million passengers, 85 million international and 35 million domestic passengers by 2024 at an estimated cost of 163 billion baht. The expansion includes the construction of one additional runway from two at the present, subsequent enlargement of domestic and international terminals and improvements to parking bays, car parks and other airport infrastructure.

An expansion plan to increase the passenger capacity of the airport to 60 million by building an additional satellite passenger terminal linked to the current main terminal via an underground automated people mover (APM) system is set to be voted on by the AOT board during a 17 May 2012 meeting. If the plan gains endorsement by the board it will be able to proceed to appointing a project management consultant (PMC) which will bring it one step closer to commencing construction on the much needed expansion. If all goes to plan the expansion is set to be completed in 2018. The expansion also includes a plan to expand the airport parking garage as well as the expansion of the eastern end of the main passenger terminal by 135 meters along with the construction of a new airline office building. The expansion does not include plans to construct a third runway, however. According the Bangkok Post, the new satellite terminal will have a total of 28 gates, with 8 of them being able to service the Airbus A380 superjumbo jet.

Airlines and destinations

Air France Airbus A340-313 X takeoff from Suvarnabhumi Airport.

AirAsia Airbus A320 taxing at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Austrian Airlines Boeing 777-200 at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Tiger Airways Airbus A320 taxing at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Kuwait Airways Aibus A340-300 taxing at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Thai Airways International Airbus A330-300 taxing at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Bangkok Airways Airbus A319 landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Thai Airways International Boeing 747-400 with Star Alliance livery at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Bangkok Airways ATR 72 taxing at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Thai Airways International Boeing 747-400 taxing at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Swiss International Air Lines Airbus A340-300 at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 taxing at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Cathay Pacific Boeing 747-400 taxing at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Passenger

Airlines	Destinations
Aeroflot	Moscow-Sheremetyevo
Air Astana	Almaty
Air Austral	Chennai, Saint-Denis de la Réunion
Air China	Beijing-Capital
Air France	Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Air India	Delhi, Mumbai
Air Macau	Macau
Air Madagascar	Antananarivo, Guangzhou
All Nippon Airways	Tokyo-Haneda, Tokyo-Narita
All Nippon Airways operated by Air Japan	Tokyo-Narita
Asiana Airlines	Seoul-Incheon
Austrian Airlines	Vienna
Bangkok Airways	Chiang Mai, Dhaka, Guilin, Hong Kong, Ko Samui, Krabi, Kuala Lumpur, Lampang, Luang Prabang, Malé, Mandalay, Mumbai, Naypyidaw, Phnom Penh, Phuket, Siem Reap, Singapore, Sukhothai, Trat, Vientiane, Yangon
Biman Bangladesh Airlines	Dhaka
British Airways	London-Heathrow
Business Air	Seoul-Incheon, Chongqing, Yangon
Cambodia Angkor Air	Phnom Penh, Siem Reap
Cathay Pacific	Colombo, Delhi, Hong Kong, Karachi, Singapore
Cebu Pacific	Cebu, Clark, Manila
China Airlines	Amsterdam, Kaohsiung, Taipei-Taoyuan
China Eastern Airlines	Chengdu (begins 27 October 2013), Kunming, Jinghong, Shanghai-Pudong, Hangzhou, Yinchuan (begins 28 October 2013) Seasonal: Hefei
China Southern Airlines	Guangzhou, Guilin (begins 28 October 2013), Jieyang, Nanning (begins 28 October 2013), Wuhan, Zhengzhou
Delta Air Lines	Tokyo-Narita
Druk Air	Bagdogra, Dhaka, Guwahati, Paro
Eastar Jet	Seoul-Incheon
EgyptAir	Cairo, Kuala Lumpur (ends 13 December 2013)
El Al	Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion
Emirates	Christchurch, Dubai, Hong Kong, Sydney
Enter Air	Charter: Warsaw-Chopin
Ethiopian Airlines	Addis Ababa, Kuala Lumpur
Etihad Airways	Abu Dhabi
EVA Air	Amsterdam, London-Heathrow, Taipei-Taoyuan, Vienna
Finnair	Helsinki
Garuda Indonesia	Denpasar/Bali, Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta
Golden Myanmar Airlines	Yangon
Gulf Air	Bahrain, Riyadh
Hainan Airlines	Beijing-Capital, Haikou, Nanning
Happy Air	Ranong
Hong Kong Airlines	Hong Kong
Hunnu Air	Ulaanbaatar (begins 15 December 2013)
IndiGo	Delhi, Kolkata
Japan Airlines	Osaka-Kansai, Tokyo-Haneda, Tokyo-Narita
Jeju Air	Busan, Seoul-Incheon
Jet Airways	Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai
Jetstar Airways	Melbourne
Jetstar Asia Airways	Singapore
Jin Air	Seoul-Incheon
Juneyao Airlines	Shanghai-Pudong
Kenya Airways	Guangzhou, Nairobi-Jomo Kenaytta
KLM	Amsterdam
Korean Air	Busan, Seoul-Incheon
Kuwait Airways	Kuwait, Manila
Lao Airlines	Luang Prabang, Pakse, Savannakhet, Vientiane
Lao Central Airlines	Vientiane
LOT Polish Airlines	Charter: Warsaw-Chopin
Lufthansa	Frankfurt, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur
Mahan Air	Mashhad, Tehran-Imam Khomeini
Malaysia Airlines	Kuala Lumpur
MIAT Mongolian Airlines	Charter: Ulaanbaatar
Myanmar Airways International	Yangon, Singapore
Nepal Airlines	Kathmandu
Nordwind Airlines	Seasonal Charter: Arkhangelsk (begins 24 October 2013), Irkutsk, Kazan, Kemerovo, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk-Yemelyanovo, Nizhnevartovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, St Petersburg, Surgut, Tomsk, Ufa, Ulan-Ude, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda
Oman Air	Muscat
Orenair	Charter: Bratsk, Kemerovo, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, St Petersburg
Orient Thai Airlines	Hong Kong, Seoul-Incheon
Pakistan International Airlines	Hong Kong, Islamabad
Philippine Airlines	Manila
Qantas	Sydney
Qatar Airways	Doha, Hanoi
Regent Airways	Dhaka
Royal Brunei Airlines	Bandar Seri Begawan
Royal Jordanian	Amman-Queen Alia, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur
S7 Airlines	Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk-Yemelyanovo Seasonal: Khabarovsk
Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal: Copenhagen
Scoot	Singapore
Shanghai Airlines	Chongqing, Shanghai-Pudong
Shenzhen Airlines	Shenzhen
Singapore Airlines	Singapore
Small Planet Airlines	Charter: Vilnius
SmartLynx Airlines	Charter: Riga, Vilnius
SpiceJet	Bangalore (begins 27 October 2013), Pune (begins 27 October 2013)
Spring Airlines	Shanghai-Pudong
SriLankan Airlines	Beijing-Capital, Colombo, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Shanghai-Pudong
Swiss International Air Lines	Zürich
Tashi Air	Kolkata, Paro
Thai Airways International	Auckland, Bangalore, Beijing-Capital, Brisbane, Brussels, Busan, Chengdu, Chennai, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Copenhagen, Delhi, Denpasar/Bali, Dhaka, Dubai, Frankfurt, Fukuoka, Guangzhou, Hanoi, Hat Yai, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Hyderabad, Islamabad, Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta, Johannesburg, Karachi, Kathmandu, Khon Kaen, Ko Samui, Kolkata, Krabi, Kuala Lumpur, Kunming, Lahore, London-Heathrow, Los Angeles, Madrid, Manila, Melbourne, Milan-Malpensa, Moscow-Domodedovo, Mumbai, Munich, Muscat, Nagoya-Centrair, Osaka-Kansai, Oslo-Gardermoen, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Penang, Perth, Phnom Penh, Phuket, Rome-Fiumicino, Sapporo-Chitose, Sendai (begins 3 December 2013), Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Singapore, Stockholm-Arlanda, Surabaya (starts 23 March 2014), Sydney, Taipei-Taoyuan, Tokyo-Haneda, Tokyo-Narita, Vientiane (ends 26 October 2013), Xiamen, Yangon, Zürich Seasonal: Gaya, Varanasi
Thai Smile	Ahmedabad, Changsha (begins 27 October 2013), Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai (begins 16 January 2014) Chongqing (begins 27 October 2013), Colombo, Hat Yai (begins 27 October 2013), Luang Prabang(begins 16 November 2013), Krabi, Macau, Mandalay, Phuket, Surat Thani, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, Vientiane (begins 27 October 2013)
Tigerair	Singapore
Tigerair Mandala	Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta, Surabaya
Tigerair Philippines	Clark
Transaero Airlines	Moscow-Domodedovo, Moscow-Vnukovo Seasonal: Blagoveshchensk, Irkutsk (begins 31 October 2013), Kazan, Khabarovsk, Krasnoyarsk-Yemelyanovo, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg
TransAsia Airways	Taipei-Taoyuan
Travel Service Airlines	Charter: Budapest, Prague
Turkish Airlines	Ho Chi Minh City, Istanbul-Atatürk
Turkmenistan Airlines	Ashgabat
T'way Airlines	Seoul-Incheon
Ukraine International Airlines	Kiev-Boryspil (begins 20 January 2014)
United Airlines	Tokyo-Narita
United Airways	Dhaka
Ural Airlines	Irkutsk
UTair Aviation	Charter: Irkutsk, Kazan, Novosibirsk, Perm, Rostov-on-Don
Uzbekistan Airways	Tashkent
VietJet Air	Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City
Vietnam Airlines	Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City
Wind Rose Aviation	Kiev-Boryspil
Xiamen Airlines	Dalian (begins 27 October 2013), Fuzhou (begins 27 October 2013), Xiamen (begins 28 October 2013)

Cities with a direct international airlink to Suvarnabhumi Airport

Cargo

Airlines	Destinations
Air France Cargo	Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Air Hong Kong	Hong Kong, Penang
ANA Cargo	Naha, Osaka-Kansai, Singapore Taipei-Taoyuan, Tokyo-Narita
Asiana Cargo	Seoul-Incheon
Cardig Air	Hong Kong, Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta, Singapore
Cargolux	Baku, Luxembourg, Shanghai-Pudong, Xiamen
Cathay Pacific Cargo	Hong Kong, Penang, Singapore
China Airlines Cargo	Abu Dhabi, Luxembourg, Taipei-Taoyuan, Chengdu
China Cargo Airlines	Shanghai-Pudong
DHL Aviation operated by AeroLogic	Leipzig/Halle, Singapore
EVA Air Cargo	Jakarta-Soekarno–Hatta, Penang, Singapore, Taipei-Taoyuan
FedEx Express	Guangzhou
Jett8 Airlines Cargo	Singapore
K-Mile Air	Ho Chi Minh city, Singapore
Korean Air Cargo	Seoul-Incheon, Singapore
Lufthansa Cargo	Frankfurt, Mumbai, Sharjah
Martinair-KLM	Amsterdam, Muscat, Sharjah
MASKargo	Kuala Lumpur
Nippon Cargo Airlines	Singapore, Tokyo-Narita
Saudia Cargo	Guangzhou, Jeddah, Riyadh, Shanghai-Pudong
Singapore Airlines Cargo	Singapore
Thai Airways International	Chennai, Delhi, Frankfurt, Sydney, Taipei-Taoyuan, Tokyo-Narita
Tri-MG Intra Asia Airlines	Ho Chi Minh City, Phnom Penh
Turkish Airlines Cargo	Almaty, Delhi, Istanbul-Ataturk, Tashkent
ULS Airlines Cargo	Istanbul-Ataturk
UPS Airlines	Mumbai, Dubai, Cologne
Yanda Airlines	Coimbatore, Delhi, Pune, Seoul-Incheon, Shanghai-Pudong, Tokyo-Narita
Yangtze River Express	Shanghai-Pudong

Traffic and statistics

Busiest international routes

Busiest international routes to and from Suvarnabhumi Airport (2012)

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled
1	Singapore	3,407,354
2	Hong Kong	3,267,195
3	Seoul-Incheon	2,095,145
4	Tokyo-Narita	1,575,302
5	Kuala Lumpur	1,453,681
6	Taipei-Taoyuan	1,134,857
7	Dubai	1,066,391
8	Ho Chi Minh City	941,065
9	Guangzhou	924,457
10	Shanghai-Pudong	913,177
11	Yangon	863,035
12	New Delhi	858,511
13	Mumbai	747,384
14	Abu Dhabi	717,032
15	London-Heathrow	700,049
16	Hanoi	654,549
17	Beijing-Capital	653,435
18	Manila	642,218
19	Sydney	603,608
20	Frankfurt	587,228
21	Doha	562,726
22	Osaka-Kansai	560,947
23	Macau	529,746
24	Jakarta-Soekarno-Hatta	484,822
25	Tokyo-Haneda	475,913
25	Phnom Penh	449,122
26	Melbourne	444,761
27	Amsterdam	443,005
28	Calcutta	427,137
29	Paris-Charles de Gaulle	414,108
30	Colombo	380,757
31	Copenhagen	372,068
32	Moscow-Domodedovo	340,594
33	Busan	336,363
34	Zurich	304,131
35	Muscat	288,109

Busiest domestic routes

Busiest domestic routes to and from Suvarnabhumi Airport (2012)

Rank	Airport	Passengers handled
1	Phuket	3,302,196
2	Chiang Mai	2,552,333
3	Samui	1,426,247
4	Hatyai	1,047,850
5	Krabi	724,856
6	Chiang Rai	665,263
5	Udon Thani	563,946
8	Khon Kaen	513,612
9	Surathani	383,160
10	Ubon Ratchathani	330,834

Traffic by calendar year

	Passengers	Change from previous year	Movements	Cargo (tons)
2008	38,603,490	–	–	1,173,084
2009	40,500,224	04.9%	–	1,045,194
2010	42,784,967	05.6%	–	1,310,146
2011	47,910,744	012.0%	299,566	–
2012	53,002,328	010.6%	312,493	–
Source: Airports Council International

Ground transportation

Airport link Suvarnabhumi station located right below the main terminal building

Departure drop off curb

Taxis stand is located outside the arrival hall on the same level

Airport Rail Link

Main article: Airport Rail Link (Bangkok)

The 30-billion baht Suvarnabhumi Airport Link was opened on 23 August 2010, after multiple delays. The Airport Rail Link (ARL) is operated by SRTET, a subsidiary company of the State Railway of Thailand. The standard gauge line is 28.6 kilometers long and is elevated for most its length, running mostly above existing regional railway lines and parallel to the No. 7 Motorway and Si Rat Expressway. There is a short at-grade/underground segment as the line approaches the passenger terminal building of Suvarnabhumi Airport. The ARL has two interchange stations, namely Phaya Thai (changing for BTS Green Line services) and Makkasan (linking Phetchaburi station of the MRT Blue Line). Two train services are operated: the non-stop Express Line trains run between Suvarnabhumi and Makkasan (at a maximum speed of 160 km/hour); the commuter City Line trains that run between Suvarnabhumi and Phaya Thai, calling at all stations. At the end of 2010, Makkasan station will also serve as the City Airport Terminal with parking and baggage check-in facilities offered to passengers using the Express Line. In the future, the ARL will complement the SRT Red Line commuter service, which comprises two meter gauge, dual-track lines. The ARL may also be extended from Phaya Thai to Don Mueang via Bang Sue, given that the old Don Mueang International Airport has now been reopened for civil aviation under a dual-airport policy.

The Airport Rail Link operates daily from 6 am to 12 midnight. A single-trip journey costs between 15 and 45 Baht or 150 Baht on the City Line and Express Line service, respectively. Journeys on an Express Line train (non-stop to Makksan) and the City Line train (six stops to Phaya Thai) takes 15 and 27 minutes, respectively. Suvarnabhumi station is located right under the main terminal building (B1 Level, two floors below the Arrival Hall). As the connection walkway linking Makkasan and Phetchaburi MRT stations is currently under construction, passengers changing to other mass transit lines are advised to take a City Line train to Phaya Thai and change to the BTS Skytrain from there.

Baggage check-in facilities for passengers travelling on flights operated by Thai Airways International and Bangkok Airways are offered at Makkasan station (the city air terminal) from 8 am to 9 pm, daily. Passengers must check in their baggage at least 3 hours prior to the flight departure, or up to 12 hours in advance, and are required to purchase an Express Line ticket to Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Regional train

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 it requires a shuttle bus connection. The service will be stopped when the Airport Express Link is completed.

Shuttle Bus

The airport express bus Route: Don Mueang Airport - Suvarnabhumi Airport (Free bus) Time:05.00 - 24.00

City bus

Three air-conditioned city bus routes are 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. Passengers must take a shuttle bus to the public transportation center's bus terminal, however, before they can board the regular city buses. The twelve routes available are as follows:

Service	Route	Notes
City Bus
554 Suvarnabhumi - Don Mueang Airport	Suvarnabhumi - Express Way - Synphaet General Hospital - Central Raminthra - Bang Khen - Lak si - Don Mueang - National Memorial - Future Park Rangsit
555 Suvarnabhumi - Rangsit	Suvarnabhumi - Express Way - Rama 9 - Din Daeng - Wat Samien Nari - Lak si - Don Mueang - National Memorial - Future Park Rangsit	By Bangkok Mass Transit Authority
558 Suvarnabhumi - Central Plaza Rama 2	Suvarnabhumi - Kingkaew - Central Bangna - Express Way - Bang Pakok - Bang Mod - Central Rama 2

Service	Destination	Notes
Long-distance services
Transport Company Bus	Pattaya
Transport Company Bus	Nong Khai

Counter of the AOT Limousine Service

Automobile

The airport has five main access routes. Among these the most convenient route is via the Bangkok Chon Buri Motorway (Highway No. 7). Another main airport entrance is in Samut Prakan province via the expressway from Bang Na to Bang Pakong.

The airport has provided five convenient entrance routes. The main route is via the motorway in the north of Bangkok, directly connecting Bangkok's downtown and Chon Buri province, the industrial and harbor city in eastern Thailand. However, another main airport entrance is located in Samut Prakan province, connecting an elevated highway in the south of Bangkok which lies from Bang Na to Bang Pakong.

Limousines

Flat-fare limousines are available at the Arrivals Level (second floor). Limousine services are provided by AOT and by a number of other licensed Limousine companies.

Bus service

Bus (Bor Khor Sor) is available as, Bus Line 389 go to Pattaya Bus Line 9905 go to Jomtien Beach BUS Line 9906 – 1 go to U-Tapao International Airport get off at U-Tapao Station Bus Line 9907 go to Chanthaburi BUS Line 9909 go to Si Racha

Public taxi

Metered taxis are available on the ground level of the airport, one level down from the arrivals hall.

Departure tax

Since 1 February 2007 the 700 Baht departure tax is included in the price of flight tickets. Before that date, departing passengers had to pay the tax to officials or vending machines before they entered the immigration queues. The departure tax at Don Muang International Airport was 500 Baht per person.

See also

• Don Mueang International Airport
• List of airports in Thailand

External links

• Suvarnabhumi Airport Website
• Free Zone by Suvarnabhumi Airport Website
• Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited and the page of the Suvarnabhumi Airport
• Suvarnabhumi Airport Project information from Airport Technology
• Current weather for VTBS at NOAA/NWS