BANGKOK, April 28 – Suvarnabhumi Airport saw a 15 percent rise in the number of passengers year-on-year during the Songkran holiday on Apr 9-18, according to the airport’s director of Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT).
Somchai Sawasdipol said there were 156,000 passengers/day using the airport during the long holiday, or about 1.56 million passengers over the ten-day period.
The number of domestic travellers increased 29 percent (389,000 passengers), while there were over 1.75 million passengers, or a 11 percent rise, in the figure for international passengers.
The number of flights also rose during the Thai New Year festive season, with over 9,300 flights operating (a 9.5 percent rise in flights). Over 2,700 flights operated on domestic routes (an increase of 9.5 percent), and more than 6,600 flights for international routes (a rise of 5.3 percent).
During the current fiscal year (October 2011-September 2012), Mr Somchai said passengers using Suvarnabhumi Airport have continuously risen.
There were about 26 million travellers using the airport during the first six months of the fiscal year (Oct 2011-Mar 2012), which was about a 7 percent growth year-on-year. Of the figure, about 7.7 million counted for domestic passengers (a 38 percent rise), and 18.7 million for international passengers (a 1.52 percent decrease) due to last year’s mega floods.
The director said AoT expected the number of passengers using Suvarnabhumi Airport to reach 52.5 million, or an increase of 9.8 percent, by September.
