Suvarnabhumi Airport (Thai: ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ) also known unofficially as Bangkok Airport.
It is one of two international airports serving Bangkok, Thailand. The other one is Don Mueang International Airport, which was the main international airport from 1924 to 2006 and transitioned in 2007 to become the low-cost airlines hub for Bangkok.
Suvarnabhumi covers an area of 3,240 ha (32.4 km2; 8,000 acres), making it one of the biggest international airports in Southeast Asia and a regional hub for aviation.
History
- The need for the new airport was recognized in 1973 when 8,000 acres of land was purchased 40 kilometres east of Bangkok. The site, known as Cobra Swamp, was drained and named Suvarnabhumi, meaning “realm of gold”.
- 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, construction did not begin until six years later in January 2002 by the government of Thaksin Shinawatra.
- The official construction of the airport began in 2002.
- 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.
Overview
The airport is currently the main hub for Thai Airways International, Thai Smile Airways, and Bangkok Airways. It also serves as regional gateway and connecting point for various foreign carriers.
Suvarnabhumi is the 17th busiest airport in the world as of 2017, eleventh busiest airport in Asia, and the busiest in the country, having handled 60 million passengers in 2017, and is also a major air cargo hub, with a total of 95 airlines.
On social networks, Suvarnabhumi was the world’s most popular site for taking Instagram photographs in 2012.
Costing an estimated 155 billion baht (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.Suvarnabhumi Airport has 72 jet bridges and 69 non-jet bridges.
The airport’s two runways can accommodate 64 flights per hour. At peak times the runways average 63 flights per hour.
In April 2019 the Thai cabinet approved a sum of 21.8 billion baht for the construction of a third runway. Construction will start in 2019 and be completed in 2021. The third runway will accommodate a maximum of 30 flights per hour. The project will be managed by Airports of Thailand (AOT).
Main Terminal
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.
The terminal building was constructed primarily by ITO JV.
In the initial phase of construction, it was capable of handling 45 million passengers and three 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.
The airport air-traffic control tower was the tallest in the world at 135 metres (443 ft) from 2006 to 2014.
Sky Lane
In December 2015, Airports of Thailand introduced Sky Lane, a cycling track around the Suvarnabhumi airport perimeter.
The entrance to Sky Lane is located in the northeastern corner of the airport area.Cyclists can bring their bicycles and bike here for free.
The Sky Lane is a controlled-access, one-direction, two-lane track built only for cycling, so the riders can be ensured that they won’t be bothered by any vehicle.
The Sky Lane’s length is 23.5 km, making it the longest in Asia.
Sky Lane’s facilities, which are specially designed for cyclists, include medical facilities, shops, food & beverage, track, parking lot and a rest area.
Suvarnabhumi Airport Data
- Country
- Thailand
- Region
- Southeast Asia
- Status
- In use
- Official name
- ท่าอากาศยานสุวรรณภูมิ
- Other name(s)
- Bangkok Airport
- Location
- Bang Phli, Samut Prakan and Prawet/ Bang Kapi/ Lad Krabang, Bangkok
- Official website
- suvarnabhumi.airportthai.co.th
- Operator(s)
- Airports of Thailand PCL (AOT)
- Cost
- About US $5 billion ( 155 billion baht )
- Began
- Jan, 2002
- Opened
- Sep-28, 2006
- Airport type
- Public
- Airport code
- IATA: BKKICAO: VTBSWMO: 48429
- Airport area
- 8006 acres / 32.4 km²
- Main terminal area
- 139 acres / 563000 m²
- Runway length
- 2*4000 m,1*3700 m
- Passenger traffic
- 65.42 million(2019)
- Freight volume
- 1,324,272 tons (2019)
- Takeoffs and landings
- 380,052 sorties (2019)
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