Suvarnabhumi Airport, Bangkok

Departure level entrance, Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)


Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) is the main international airport for Bangkok. It is located in Samut Prakan Province, about 25 km to the east of downtown Bangkok. It began full domestic and international flights on 28 September 2006.

The name Suvarnabhumi was chosen by King Bhumibol Adulyadej. It refers to the golden kingdom that appears in some ancient manuscripts. Suvarnabhumi has the third largest airport terminal in the world after Beijing's Terminal Three and Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok. At 132.2 meters, Suvarnabhumi's control tower is the tallest in the world.

Suvarnabhumi Airport covers 8000 acres of land which was purchased as early as 1973. On and off political upheavals have delayed the project to build a replacement airport for the overcrowded Don Muang International Airport. As the area is marshland, the soil requires stabilization. Land reclamation took place from 1997 to 2001, and actual construction only began in January 2002 under the government of Thaksin Shinawatra. The total cost of the airport came to 155 billion baht (app. US$3.8 billion).

Initially, the airport was projected to open in late 2005. On 29 September 2005, the first symbolic test flights by Thai Airways was conducted at Suvarnabhumi, but a series of delays pushed the opening date to a year later.

Suvarnabhumi Airport has two runways. Each is 60 meters wide, one is 4km long while the other is 3.7km long. Paralel to the runways are two taxiways, allowing for simultaneous departures and arrivals. Suvarnabhumi has 120 parking bays, of which 51 are direct contact gates while the remainder are remote gates. There are also 5 parking bays specially designed to accommodate the Airbus A380. The airport, as it is, is capable of handling 76 flight operations per hour. Both international and domestic flights share the same terminal, but assigned to different parts of the building. The airport can handle 45 million passengers and 3 million tons of cargo a year. Linked to the airport is a five-storey car park with a capacity for 5000 vehicles.

Concourse of Suvarnabhumi Airport with traveltors (23 October 2006)

Using Suvarnabhumi Airport

If you are arriving or leaving from Suvarnabhumi Airport, read the Suvarnabhumi Airport Transportation.

Updates

31 May 2012: Airports of Thailand (AOT) is spending US$1.9 billion over the next five years to expand the capacity of Suvarnabhumi Airport. This will grow its capacity by a third, enabling it to handle up to 60 million passengers a year by 2017. According to AOT, Suvarnabhumi is expected to serve 51 million passengers by end of fiscal year in September 2012, up from 48 million in September 2011. To ease congestion, some flights will land at the old Don Mueang Airport from July 2012. The growth of low-cost travel has enabled the airport to make a profit of ฿2.99 billion in the second quarter ending March 2012.


Travelators at Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)



Inside Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)



Driveway, Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)



Pedestrian bridges entering Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)



Suvarnabhumi Airport pillar (23 October 2006)



Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)



Taxis bringing passengers to Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)



Control tower and parking space at Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)



Sunset at Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)



Massive pillar holding up the roof of Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)



Suvarnabhumi Airport (23 October 2006)

List of Airports in Bangkok; list of Districts of Bangkok

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