The Airports of Thailand (AoT) will open the new passenger terminal at Suvarnabhumi Airport in September.

AoT's president said the terminal will handle an additional 15 million passengers per year to boost the airport's total passenger handling capacity to 60 million per year.

The 216,000m² terminal has 28 gates and a children's play area, and is currently waiting for the installation of chairs with USB power sockets.

The airport reported a 230.8% jump in passenger traffic with 31.6 million passengers -- 23.46 million international and 8.14 million domestic -- from October to May when compared to the same period in the previous year.

The daily average for this year is about 140,000–150,000, the airport said.

The AoT also plans to tackle overcrowding at the airport's passport control area by installing Auto Channel machines for inbound passengers from Singapore and Hong Kong next year.

In the future, the service will be extended for outbound passengers with e-passports from 90 countries, he said.

Suvarnabhumi Airport will be able to serve up to 8,800 departing passengers per hour, from the current 6,200, and process 13,300 incoming passengers per hour, up from 11,000 at the moment, the AoT said.

The AoT will introduce an Automated Biometric Identification System with facial recognition technology to identify passengers at check-in counters in the middle of next year.