Suvarnabhumi Bangkok Airport – The Hub of South East Asia

Thailand Airports Flight Status:

Exchange Rates:

Airport Codes:

Airport Maps:

Airport Tax:

Airport News:

Suvarnabhumi Archive for April, 2007


Custom Search


Thai Airways loses customers after moving back to Don Muang airport

Saturday, April 28th, 2007

Thai Airways International‘s decision to move a large part of its domestic services to the old Don Muang airport has resulted in a loss of tens of thousands of passengers who require connecting flights.

The flag carrier could have lost as many as 70,000 foreign travellers, who were transferring from international flights to domestic destinations or travelling from domestic routes to overseas, since Thai Airways started operating through the 93-year-old airport on March 25, 2007.

These travellers have turned to other carriers due to the hassle and long wait in connecting with international flights – all of which run through Suvarnabhumi Airport, a time-consuming 27 km away.

Many of these passengers who may travel on Thai Airways flights from abroad have instead used the domestic services of Bangkok Airways and the budget carrier Thai AirAsia, which have continued to operate all flights through Suvarnabhumi.

Thai Airways operates 31 domestic flights a day through Don Muang, offering more than 8,000 seats a day, while retaining 11 flights a day at the new Bangkok airport.

Thai Airways is one of the three local airlines that opted to offer domestic flights through the old airport after the military government earlier this year decided, following several policy flip-flops, to reopen the old airport for non-connecting domestic services to reduce immediate congestion instead of making a long term expansion plan in the new Bangkok Airport.

The other two players at Don Muang are Thai Airways’s budget subsidiary Nok Airlines and the local no-frills airline One-Two-Go, both of which did not experience similar problems to Thai Airways. The response from connecting passengers has caught the national carrier’s management off-guard as they believed that domestic flights allocated at Suvarnabhumi should deal with the connection issue for foreign travellers.

The Thai Airways domestic flights retained at Suvarnabhumi, which the airline anticipated to require connections to international destinations, are those from popular tourist spots such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket and Krabi.

The business loss prompted Thai Airways’s board to discuss the issue at its Monday (April 30, 2007) meeting. No easy solution is seen though some executives said the airline may be compelled to cut some flights at Don Muang and return them to Suvarnabhumi.

Thai Airways may be reluctant revert to Suvarnabhumi because it spearheaded the campaign to reopen the old airport.

Thai Airways has spent about 20 million baht to re-establish its presence over at the old Don Muang Airport.

Industry analysts said Thai Airways‘s loss of connecting passengers reflects a major flaw in operating dual airports within close proximity.

The use of two airports has increased the flight transfer time in Bangkok from between two and three hours to between five and seven hours.

Critics said Thai Airways may have underestimated the impact of passenger connectivity to its business as statistics show that there are always passengers on every Thai Airways domestic flight who need to transfer to international flights.



Airports of Thailand terminated King Power Duty Free’s contracts

Friday, April 20th, 2007

Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT)’s board of directors resolved on Thursday (April 19, 2007) to call a new bidding for operators of duty-free shops at the Suvarnabhumi Airport, indicating an eventual end in its contracts with King Power International.

The board also agreed to have all tenants at the airport to negotiate for new contracts with AOT individually. Previously King Power had secured the concession for commercial area management.

AOT, which runs the Suvarnabhumi Airport, had nullified its deals with King Power on advice from the Council of State, arguing that King Power had violated the Public-Private Joint Venture Act.



Restrictions will be enforced on liquids, aerosols and gels in hand-carried luggage on all commercial flights

Thursday, April 19th, 2007

Thailand will start enforcing new restrictions on liquids, aerosols and gels in hand-carried luggage on all commercial flights departing from airports nationwide in the next few weeks.

Thailand is the latest Asian country to begin applying the security measures suggested by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) following the discovery of a terrorist plot in Britain last year.

Major Asian air hubs such as South Korea’s Incheon International Airport and Hong Kong International Airport implemented the measures earlier this year, while Singapore Changi Airport is due to apply them from May 8.

A draft of the regulation restricting the carriage of liquid, aerosol and gel (LAG) items has been forwarded to the Transport Ministry and enforcement is expected to start at the end of this month or early next month, according to Chaisak Angkasuwan, the director-general of the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA).

The measure limits LAG in containers with a maximum capacity of 100 millilitres each.

It is likely to affect sales of popular airport duty-free purchases such as liquor, wine, perfume and lotions, Mr Chaisak acknowledged.

It was unclear how King Power International would deal with the restriction which could seriously affect its main revenue stream, derived mostly from sales of alcoholic beverages and, to a certain extent, liquid-based cosmetic items.

King Power is the sole operator of duty-free stores at Thailand’s four international airports: Suvarnabhumi, Chiang Mai, Phuket and Hat Yai.

The most popular duty-free purchases at airports are alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and perfume which, according to industry estimates, could represent as much as 80% of King Power‘s daily turnover.

While King Power executives could not be reached for comment yesterday, Airports of Thailand (AOT), the airlines and King Power are reportedly being asked to work out details and address potential inconveniences that passengers could face.

The restrictions have been in place for several months for flights leaving Thailand for the US, the UK and Australia, in line with the requirements imposed by those countries. They are now being expanded to all domestic and international flights. They will also apply to passengers making transit and transfer connections in Thai airports.

”Of course, there will be a lot of frustrations among passengers at the airports’ screening points. But passengers need to come to terms with the new regulations that have been applied throughout the world in the name of security,” said Sunatee Isvarphornchai, a vice-president at Thai Airways International.

The flag carrier is starting a process of educating its passengers about the restrictions, including printing warnings on e- tickets, issuing advisory pamphlets and posting suggestions on its website.

To alleviate problems associated with duty-free sales, authorities are looking at a model adopted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

At Singapore Changi Airport, passengers can continue to buy LAG items but the purchases will be placed in sealed tamper-evident bags by the shops, with the receipt clearly visible.

Under the ICAO guidelines, LAG items must be in containers with a maximum content of 100 ml each. LAG in containers larger than 100 are prohibited, even if the container was partially filled.

Larger containers must be placed in a transparent re-sealable plastic bag with a maximum capacity not exceeding one litre. Only one such bag will be permitted per passenger, and it must be presented separately for examination at the security screening point.

Baby food, medications and special dietary items in LAG form will be accepted but subject to additional checks at the security screening point.

Suvarnabhumi airport director Serirat Prasutanond said AOT was prepared to handle the additional LAG item security screening.



Next Suvarnabhumi News »


Related Topics


Novotel Suvarnabhumi Airport Hotel