Bangkok Airport gets ready for peak travel season

Suvarnabhumi Airport is bracing for a major test as the holiday travel season approaches its peak. An additional 32,000 passengers - 20,000 on international flights and 10,000 on domestic flights - are expected to pass through Bangkok's new airport between Dec 25 and Jan 5.

Twenty-eight airlines are adding a total of 274 air movements - both take-offs and landings - during the 12-day period, on top of the normal daily rate of 750-800 movements.

The additional movements would involve 123 international services and 151 domestic ones, according to Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT), the operator of Thailand's six major airports.

However, the increases in passengers and flights fall well short of those recorded in the same period last year, when 305 additional take-offs and landings and 42,700 more passengers were processed through the old Don Muang airport.

The reduced totals this year may indicate a marginal slowdown in tourist traffic in the current holiday season, Suvarnabhumi Airport director Somchai Sawasdeepol said yesterday.

Heavy traffic has prompted AoT to step up efforts to provide convenience, security and safety at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

According to AoT, the new airport handled about 3.4 million passengers in October, down 0.1% from the same period last year, and 3.65 million passengers in November, up 3.5%.

A total of 100 carriers are currently operating through Suvarnabhumi, 79 of which are passenger airlines, 13 freight carriers and eight airlines operating on a code-share basis.

The AoT-operated airports at Chiang Mai and Phuket are also busy, with 14 and 51 additional take-offs and landings respectively over the holiday period.