Don Mueang Airport caters passengers after resuming full-scale services

BANGKOK, October 1 (TNA) - Bangkok's Don Mueang Airport has been active with its full-scale services and crowds of international passengers after its reopening early Monday morning, in the wake of a temporary closure caused by flood damage late last year. The Don Mueang Airport's check-in rows started to operate at 4am, prior to the first departure of Thai AirAsia, flight FD 3677, to Bali at about 6.15am. There was no report of stranded passengers or confusion related to the relocation of flights in the AirAsia group from Thailand's main Suvarnabhumi International Airport to Don Mueang Airport. There are 281 flights operating at the Don Mueang Airport, comprising 73 international flights and 208 domestic ones, with the peak hour being from 5pm to 6pm when 23 flights are scheduled. Meanwhile, Anirut Thanomkulabutr, President of Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AOT), told reporters that the Don Mueang Airport is serving low-cost airlines namely AirAsia, Nok Air and Orient Thai, as well as non-scheduled airlines namely Solar Air and Nok Mini, saying that he expects more low-cost airlines to move to the Don Mueang Airport, as negotiations on their relocation is underway. Expressing his satisfaction with the reopening of the Don Mueang Airport, now Thailand's main domestic one, Anirut acknowledged that the Don Mueang Airport has been well-prepared regarding its 124 check-in counters, 34 immigration channels for departing passengers and 26 channels for arriving passengers manned by as many as 303 immigration police. According the AOT chief, there are also four X-ray machines to handle the baggage of departing passengers at the Don Mueang Airport, three conveyor belt facilities, 35 aircraft parking bays with jet bridges at Passenger Terminal 1 and 66 aircraft parking bays without a jet bridges, cutting time to only 20 minutes for a passenger from a check-in counter to a boarding gate and to only 25 minutes for a visiting passenger. (TNA)