Suvarnabhumi Airport is ready to soft open the Secondary Concourse No. 1 (SAT – 1) on 28 Sept. before opening for full service in Nov. 2023 to support tourism, expected in 2024. Tourists reach 150 million
Mr. Keerati Kitmanawat, Director General of the Company Airports of Thailand Co., Ltd. (AOT) has revealed that currently Secondary Concourse No. 1 or SAT-1 in Suvarnabhumi Airport is open. It is now 100% ready to serve and is expected to help accommodate more passengers. Since this building has an area of approximately 250,000 square meters, there are 28 concourses. While the area of the main terminal building is approximately 500,000 square meters, which can increase the space from the main building by approximately 40%, Secondary Concourse 1 (SAT-1) is ready for soft opening on Thursday, September 28th. It will serve alongside the current passenger building. To increase service efficiency and reduce congestion in the service area of the main passenger terminal. To have the capacity to support the increased number of passengers and flight volumes.
There are 2 airlines that will fly at the SAT-1 building in the first phase: Thai AirAsia X and Thai Vietjet. The first flight that will fly into the SAT-1 building is Thai AirAsia Thai AirAsia X will serve approximately 14 flights per day, while Thai Vietjet will serve approximately 4 flights per day, and will then consider arranging additional airlines to serve the SAT-1 building in the next phase.
“At present there are about 10 airlines that are interested in opening services at the SAT-1 building, including Emirates Airlines, Etihad, All Nippon Airways, Qatar. Airways and Thai Airways and after the Soft Opening, test the service for 1 month and will see if there are any glitches that need to be fixed. Then it will be considered to officially open for business. Initially, it is expected to be this November,” Mr. Keerati said.
As for international passenger volume, it is now approximately 70% from pre-COVID-19 levels. As for domestic passengers, they have returned to 100% and in fiscal year 2023 there will be more than 100 million passengers in total at 6 airports, and it is expected that in 2024 this will increase to 150 million people, higher than the pre-Covid period of 142 million people, especially at airports. Suvarnabhumi As for free visa measures For Chinese and Kazakhstani This has led to more flight bookings, especially flights from China. During August to September Currently there are about 100-200 flights, and about 300 during October. Passengers from August to September are about 350,000 per month, but October is expected to increase. 620,000 people per month and there will be more passengers coming to use the service
and Mr. Kittipong Kittikachorn, Director of Suvarnabhumi Airport, said that Suvarnabhumi Airport It has successfully passed full-scale operational trials at Secondary Concourse No. 1 (SAT-1). which has operated in collaboration with airlines Ground service operators and related agencies a total of 3 times, both during the daytime and during the night. To ensure readiness for the soft opening of the service on September 28 onwards, which will increase the capacity to accommodate additional passengers from 45 million per year to 60 million per year.
During the Soft Opening period, duty free delivery counters, duty free shops, restaurants and passenger lounges will be provided. Ready to open for service in some parts.
Source: Thai News Agency