Suvarnabhumi Airport,
also known as (New) Bangkok International Airport (IATA: BKK, ICAO: VTBS),
is the international airport serving Bangkok, Thailand. After numerous delays,
the airport opened for limited service on 15 September 2006, and opened
for all commercial flights on 28 September. The airport is the main hub
for Thai Airways International.
The airport is located in Racha Thewa in Bang Phli district,
Samut Prakan Province, about 25 km east of Bangkok. The name Suvarnabhumi
( pronounced su-wan-na-poom) was chosen by King Bhumibol Adulyadej and
refers to the ancient kingdom hypothesized to have been located somewhere
in Southeast Asia. Designed by Murphy/Jahn Architects, this airport has
the world's tallest control tower (132.2 m2), and the world's second largest
single building and airport terminal (563,000 m2), just a little smaller
than Hong Kong International Airport (570,000 m2) but larger than South
Korea's Incheon International Airport (496,000 m2). The airport replaced
the old Don Mueang International Airport which was the fourth busiest
airport for passenger traffic in Asia in 2005 (behind Tokyo's Haneda Airport,
Beijing Capital International Airport, and Hong Kong International Airport)
as Bangkok's primary airport for all commercial airline flights. It also
inherited the IATA Airport Code BKK from Don Mueang after it was decommissioned.
