Workers finished repairing a section of Suvarnabhumi airport’s eastern runway yesterday, returning it to service for all types of planes except Airbus A380 super jumbos.
An 870-meter section of tarmac was repaved as part of a project to resurface the entire 1,620-meter northern section of the runway, The Nation reported
The remaining section will be ready by July 31, Anirut Thanomkulbutra, president of Airports of Thailand, said.
During the repair work, the Airport could handle only 37 flights per hour – down from 76. With 45 to 50 flights arriving per hour, many aircraft were forced to remain in the air for an extra 15 to 80 minutes before touching down.
About 23 per cent of 800 flights that took off and landed at Suvarnabhumi a day were held up for more than 15 minutes, the report said.
With the first phase of repair work finished, passengers can expect flights to be forced to circle for no more than 30 minutes, said Prajak Kajjasopon, president of the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand.
With the recent troubles at Suvarnabhumi airport – which included runway subsidence and a power failure shutting down air-traffic control – the Kindom’s gateway to the world has seen it’s ranking among global airports slide from 13th in 2011 to 25th this year, according to Skytrax’s World’s Best Airport Awards.
In the category of airports that accommodate 30 million to 50 million passengers per year, it is ranked 10th, with Incheon International Airport in South Korea coming in top in both categories.
