Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport officially reopened for commercial traffic

Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand, has been officially reopened for commercial operations, after it had been shut down for eight days by anti-government protesters from the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD). The airport was partly reopened a few days ago after the PAD left the airport premises.

Prior to its full reopening, the Civil Aviation Department of Thailand certified that Suvarnabhumi International Airport – Asia’s fourth-busiest aviation hub – met international safety standards.

Representatives of international aviation bodies also had inspected the airport. Chaisak Angsuwan, chief of Thailand’s Civil Aviation Department, said the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) – an agency of the United Nations that codifies the principles and techniques of international air navigation and fosters the planning and development of international air transport to ensure safe and orderly growth – was satisfied with the quick resumption of services at Suvarnabhumi Airport.

The United States Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a US government agency that is responsible for security in all modes of transportation in the country, told officials of Suvarnabhumi Airport to impose stricter security measures especially on passengers leaving for the United States with checks to see if they were carrying hazardous materials, Chaisak Angsuwan said.

Serirat Prasutanond, director of Suvarnabhumi Airport, said in a press release that

“some airlines were still postponing resuming their services to and from Bangkok, but flight frequency should be close to normal in the coming days.”

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) organised a farewell event for stranded foreign tourists who managed to catch flights home.

Apart from the farewell event, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Thai Airways, the national air-carrier of Thailand operating out of Suvarnabhumi Airport, are planning to introduce new holiday packages to attract foreign visitors back to the kingdom, a government official was quoted as saying.

Suvarnabhumi Airport, also known as (New) Bangkok International Airport, is the international airport serving Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. The airport –located in Racha Thewa in Bang Phli district, Samut Prakan Province, about 25 kilometres east of downtown Bangkok – was opened for limited domestic flight service on September 15, 2006, and opened for all domestic and international commercial flights on September 28, 2006.

Suvarnabhumi Airport is the main hub for Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Orient Thai Airlines, PBair and Thai AirAsia, and a focus city for China Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Emirates Airline, EVA Air, Indian Airlines, Royal Jordanian, and Sri Lankan Airlines. The airport, which has the world’s tallest control tower and the world’s third-largest single-building airport terminal, is one of the busiest airports in Asia and also Bangkok’s primary airport for all international flights.

A modern motorway connects the Suvarnabhumi Airport and the heavily industrial Eastern Seaboard of Thailand, where most of the manufacturing for export takes place.