Bangkok's new cross-roads to the World
After more than four decades of planning, Bangkok's new 155-billion baht (US$ 4 billion), state-of-the-art Suvarnabhumi International Airport - featuring the largest terminal building and tallest control tower in the world - opened officially on September 28 2006. The new airport began full domestic and international operations at exactly 03:00, as scheduled.
The super-modern eight-storey steel and glass airport complex, including an underground level where there will eventually be electric mass transit facilities and passenger terminals, has a total area of some 563,000 square metres on a 3,100 hectares site and can cater to 45 million passengers annually. Following further expansion phases, including two additional runways, it will be able to cater to 100 million passengers per year.
Transport services will include limousines, airport shuttle buses, and an airport express service - the latter with buses running through the capital's major business areas such as Silom and Wireless Roads. Plans are on the cards too for an overhead rail link that will swiftly transport passengers to and from central Bangkok. This will cut traveling time between the airport and the city centre to only 15 minutes - as opposed to the 40 minutes it is expected to (presently) take traveling by either bus or car/taxi.
The new airport operates as many as 76 flights per hour - both international and domestic - on two simultaneous runways. It has 51 direct link aircraft stands and 69 remote parking bays for wide-bodied aircrafts and can handle over 1,46 million tons of cargo annually. Road access to Suvarnabhumi will be provided by a series of new highways connecting to Bangkok's existing outer ring road.
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Named Suvarnabhumi (meaning 'Golden Land') by His Majesty King Bumibol Adelyadej, the new airport is one of the biggest and most modern in the world. It is set to further improve Bangkok's prominence as a travel hub in Thailand and Asia. Of the 11,6 million arrivals to Thailand in 2004, a total of 8,2 million (or about 70,6 % came through Bangkok. Many of them also use the Thai capital as the gateway for taking onward flights to numerous other destinations throughout the Asia-Pacific region. New routes will also link the airport to the popular tourist spots of Pattaya and Rayong. There is also a plan to connect Suvarnabhumi with Don Muang (the old airport), which is being used for some domestic, charter, VIP and military flight operations.
Also see Suvarnubhumi Fact Sheet.
Airport Contacts
Passenger Service
Tel: +66 (0)2 134 2511-3 Fax: +66 (0)2 134 2509
Ticketing Booth
Tel: +66 (0)2 134 2213 Fax: +66 (0)2 134 2508
Lost & Found
Tel: +66 (0)2 134 2214 Fax: +66 (0)2 134 2508
All photographs courtesy of the Airports of Thailand Public Company (AOT). |
