MCOT has reported that Thai Air Asia is interested in using Don Mueang as an “operations base” and that THAI Smile Air, the new low-cost carrier from Thai Airways, is expected to use the airport as its main hub.
The re-opening date for the airport Airport has been pushed up to March 2. Don Mueang, which was badly damaged in the worst flooding in decades last year, was originally set to open March 6.
The Civil Aviation Department (CAD) and Airports of Thailand (AoT) will hold a joint ceremony for the re-opening CAD Director General Woradet Hanprasert said Feb. 3. Woradet also confirmed that budget airline Nok Air would continue flights from Don Mueang.
Flights stopped on Oct. 25, 2011 after the runways were flooded.
Woradet said that he is confident that Orient Thai airlines and charter flights, who also used the airport before it closed, would return.
Woradet said that he believed that Don Mueang could serve over 1 million passengers a year to help lighten the load at Suvarnabhumi.
Suvarnabhumi International Airport serves an average of 47 million passengers a year.
