Flight capacity at Bangkok airport to soar with third runway

Once the third runway at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport goes into full operation, the number of flights landing and taking off should rise by 16% this year. Deputy Transport Minister Manaporn Charoensri made this comment on Monday (Oct 28) after she checked out the operations and preparations made by the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand Co Ltd (AeroThai) to use the new runway. AeroThai has been gradually shifting flights to the new runway from October 3 so pilots can start getting familiar with it before it is used to its full capacity. Manaporn said the new runway allows Suvarnabhumi to handle 94 flights per hour compared to 68 flights when there were just two runways. She said AeroThai expects Thailand to see 836,513 flights this year, which would mark a 16% increase compared to last year. Suvarnabhumi Airport alone should see some 348,980 flights this year or an average of 950 flights per day.<br/>