Passenger traffic through Suvarnabhumi airport dropped by nearly 7% in the first five months of 2013, and yet congestion persists at Thailand's main air gateway albeit slightly less critical.
Rawewan: There is still congestion
Combined passenger volumes at Suvarnabhumi in the January-May period fell by 6.83% year-on-year to 21.8 million, with the number of flights down by 14.8% to 120,900, Airports of Thailand Plc data show.
Rawewan Netrakavesna, Suvarnabhumi's general manager, credited the reduction mainly to the diversion of low-cost carrier (LCC) traffic to Bangkok's old Don Mueang airport, which was reactivated as a fully functional facility last October, as well as to other major airports upcountry.
More flights are bypassing Suvarnabhumi including a new direct service between Chiang Mai and Phuket, she said.
Without these flights diverting, Suvarnabhumi's congestion would be even worse, with passenger throughput easily reaching 60 million this year, far surpassing the airport's annual capacity of 45 million travellers, Ms Rawewan told the Bangkok Post.
But as the situation now stands, Suvarnabhumi's traffic volume will be only 53 million this year, up from 52 million last year.
International passenger traffic through Suvarnabhumi grew by 5.24% in the first five months to almost 18 million, while domestic volume plunged 39% to 3.79 million, underscoring the fact that most of the LCC traffic migrating to Don Mueang has been domestic.
Suvarnabhumi's aircraft movements followed a similar pattern, with international take-offs and landings slipping 1.9% to 95,355 and domestic flights nosediving 42.9% to 25,554.
On the other hand, Don Mueang's traffic showed an upsurge, with passenger throughput rocketing 661% year-on-year in the January-May period to 6.72 million and aircraft movements 355% to 58,042.
Domestic traffic outweighed international volume at Don Mueang during the period, with budget carriers Thai AirAsia and Nok Air together accounting for most of these flights.
Don Mueang's domestic passenger traffic leaped 424% to 4.58 million in that period, while international numbers rose by 19,054% to 2.14 million from the previous period, which saw only a few charter flights.
There were 41,247 domestic aircraft movements from January-May, up by 245%, and 16,795 international flights, up by 2,028%.
With Thailand remaining one of the region's top destinations, continued overcrowding at Suvarnabhumi seems inevitable.
The airport's expansion, which will raise passenger handling capacity by one-third to 60 million passengers a year, will not be completed until the end of 2016.
Ms Rawewan said the challenge is to manage Suvarnabhumi amid the practical restraints and ensure that airport facilities are in good operating condition.
"Carrying out maintenance is an uphill task, as the airport is heavily in use during most hours of the day," she said.
"Much of this work can only be done around 2-4am."