Bangkok's new Bht.155bn ($4.1bn) Suvarnabhumi International Airport officially opened at 3:05a.m. Bangkok time today after all scheduled airlines completed the complex logistical transfer of all main operations and aircraft to the new airport in pouring

rain from the old Bangkok Don Muang facility.
The airport opening was overseen by around 800 soldiers who have been seconded to the airport for 90 days to assist with the transfer of equipment as the new airport beds in.
The airport is being heralded as the new ?Gateway to Asia? and during the initial phase of operation the north section of the airport will be able to accommodate 45m passengers per year, 76 flights per hour and 3m tons of cargo a year. After the final phase, this will rise to 100m passengers a year. Airport officials are already projecting that Suvarnabhumi will hit the 60m passenger level within three years, since 80% of all visitor arrivals to Thailand arrive by air through Bangkok.
Just below 100 foreign and domestic airlines used the old Don Muang airport between January and July of this year, handling 21.8m domestic, international and transit passenger movements ? a rise of 14% compared with the corresponding period in 2005. Low-cost airline passengers were the fastest growing segment, soaring by 48% to 1.46m in the third quarter of 2006 alone.
At 563,000sq m, the passenger terminal is currently the largest in the world. The airport also features the world's longest runway at 75.3 metres by 4,000 metres long and the world?s tallest control tower at 132.2 metres high.
To underline the sheer size of this new facility Suvarnabhumi incorporates 130 passport control checkpoints for arrivals, 72 for departures, 26 customs control checkpoints for arrivals, 8 for departures, 22 baggage conveyor belts, 360 check-in counters and an additional 100 additional counters for passengers with no luggage. There are seven concourse buildings connected to the passenger terminal which are named A, B, C, D, E, F and G.As already reported extensively, the King Power International Group will operate more than 20,000sq m of retail space at the new airport. (For full details, type King Power into the search box on this page-Ed).