Bangkok airport traffic up 13.2% during January to September 2006

The number of passengers using Thailand's five biggest airports rose by 13.2% to 38.52 million during the first nine months of the year, Airports of Thailand said Tuesday.

The statistics did not include the impact from the opening of Suvarnabhumi Airport, which only opened on September 28 and has not yet reported any statistics.

The number of passengers who used Bangkok's now-shuttered Don Muang airport was 31.46 million in the first nine months, up 10.8 percent over last year, according to AOT, which operates the facility.

The amount of cargo was also up 6.2 percent to 936,948 tonnes.

Chiang Mai Airport, the number of passengers was up three percent to 2.2 million, while Chiang Rai Airport recorded an increase of 2.4 percent to 497,923 passengers.

Phuket Airport posted sharp gains with number of passengers up by 62.6 per cent to 3.4 million.

Hat Yai Airport reported number of passengers up by 4.8 percent to 964,690, even as the number of flights dropped by 3.4 per cent.