Airport Management and Operation: Bangkok Airport Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of airport management and operation, focusing on the specific context of Bangkok's two major airports: Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi. The study begins with a critical assessment of capacity limitations and physical design flaws at Don Mueang Airport, evaluating its infrastructure and operational challenges. It then delves into the strategic approaches of Bangkok's airports, examining their roles as international and domestic hubs and their impact on passenger traffic. The report also assesses the current situation at Don Mueang Airport, considering its potential future role, particularly as a low-cost carrier hub. Furthermore, it proposes alternative strategies for Bangkok to enhance its efficiency as an international and domestic hub, addressing issues such as passenger flow, infrastructure, and overall airport management to provide a detailed overview of the airport's performance and future possibilities.

Running head: AIRPORT MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
Airport Management and Operation
Name of the Student:
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Author

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
1. Critical assessment of the capacity limitations and the Physical design of Don Meung
Airport..........................................................................................................................................3
2. Critical assessment of the strategy Bangkok and its two airports...........................................5
3. Assessment of the current situation in Don Meaung Airport and its potential role in future..8
4. Alternative strategy for Bangkok so that it can efficiently become and international and a
domestic hub..............................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................14
Reference.......................................................................................................................................15
Appendix........................................................................................................................................18

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Introduction
After the incident of the September 11th, the airline operations have changed considerably
and drastically. The most remarkable changes noticed in terms security measures are subsequent
changes in the security checking procedures. The other less visible changes include the planning
of the terminals, management of the airports, remote check in options, new ticketing rules, e-
ticketing capabilities (Wensveen 2018). All these features and the options have impacted the
waiting times, waiting lines, processing times, space allocation, passenger flows, overall
passenger experience, levels of service, terminal performance. With the different types of the
factors, it is difficult for the airline operators to measure all the effects related to the flow of the
passenger from the terminal. The situation can become worse if the other factors are considered
like the baggage handling services for the passengers, remote check in, partnerships with the
resorts and hotels, traveller programmes, common usage of the ticketing counters (Kinnison and
Siddiqui 2012). This study will focus on the critical assessment of the capacity limitations and
the physical design of an airport (Don Mueang); critical assessment of the of the strategy of
Bangkok in its two airports (Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang) and the international, national
traffic activity at each of the airports; the assessment of the current situation in Don Mueang and
its potential role in future; proposal of an alternative strategy for Bangkok and the way it can
serve efficiently the point to point traffic and become an international and domestic hub.
Thesis statement: Airport operations involve one of the most critical models of
management for the efficient management of the passengers and the goods. With the increase in
the passenger flow the airport operations reach a critical point where it has to handle both the
international and the domestic flight traffic. The two airports Suvarnabhumi and he Don Mueang
are the two lifelines that connects the capital city Bangkok with the world.

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Discussion
1. Critical assessment of the capacity limitations and the Physical design of Don Meung
Airport
Don Meaung Airport is also called the Old Bangkok International Airport and this airport
was officially opened by the Royal Thai Air Force in the year 1914. In the year 2006, the Don
Meuang Airport was closed and later in the year 2007 the airport was reopened to reduce the
passenger traffic and also make repairs to the cracked runways of the Suvarnabhumi Airport. The
Don Meaung Airport was renovated with a new taxiway and it served the 140 domestic flights
and at the same time carried 20,000 passengers per day. When the Don Meaung was closed, it
was the 18th busiest airport in the world and second busiest in Asia in terms of the passenger
volume. In the year 2005, the Don Meaung airport accommodated 80 airlines and it operated
160,000 airlines and served 38,000,000 passengers and 700,000 tonnes of cargo
(Donmueangairport 2019).
The Don Meaung Airport has only two terminals: one of international terminals and the
other one is a domestic terminal. The presence of two terminals is in itself acts as a choker.
Considering the fact that Don Meaung Airport serves both the international and domestic
passengers and is one of the busiest. However, there are design flaws that can be highlighted in
the Don Meaung Airport. The airport has 2 runways which has the length of 3700 meters with a
width of 60 meters and another one with a length of 3500 meters and a width of 45 meters. The
runway width and runway length provides ample space for the touchdown of both the passenger
and cargo aircrafts. The two runways can support up to 60 flights per hour. The huge number of
the passengers becomes a bottleneck for the staffs that operate inside the airport. The terminal 1
has 124 check-ins for the international passengers and terminal 2 has 96 check-ins international

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passenger terminal. Furthermore, the terminal 2 has 43 check-ins at the domestic terminal
(Appendix 1). The large number of the check-ins will lead to an inflow of passengers and it will
be an extra pressure for the airport staffs if the airport has less number of the staffs. One of the
highlighting fact is that the Royal Thai Air Force has a golf course between the two runways.
The golf course is not separated from the runways and the golfers are held back whenever an
aircraft land (Donmueangairport 2019).
Table 1: Connectivity of the Don Meaung Airport with the other places (Donmueangairport
2019)
To and from Distance (km) Time Transport
Suvarnabhumi 47.5 45 minutes to 2 hours Taxi, Bus
Central Bangkok 27 30 minutes to 1 hour Taxi, Bus
Bangkok Railway
Station
25 30 minutes to 1 hour Taxi
Thus, considering the distance of 23 km from the CBD of Bangkok to Don Meaung
Airport is big enough for passengers to commute quickly. The lack of any major railway service
hinders the mass movement of the passengers from the neighbouring areas of Airport (Appendix
2). The management model followed by the Don Meaung Airport relates to the passenger
management, flight management and management of the passengers at the immigration counters.
The management model followed by the Don Meaung Airport is the crowd management for the
purpose of managing the passengers at the check-ins, and the immigration counters. Secondly,
the aircraft management is used by the Airport authorities to management 60 flights every hour
(Donmueangairport 2019).

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2. Critical assessment of the strategy Bangkok and its two airports
One of the distinguishing features of the Suvarnabhumi International Airport is how it
manages the tag of international aviation hub and also drive the traffic for the Thailand’s tourism
market. According to the analysis of the OAG traffic analyser, the total number of the airline
bookings that are operated in and out of the Suvarnabhumi airport for the year 2017 is 52.7
million. Among the 52.7 million, about 11.5 million acted as a pass through passengers between
the flights. The domestic flight traffic at the Suvarnabhumi airport is minimal, while 59 percent
of the flights are international flights and the remaining 39 percent of the flights are between the
domestic and the international flight (oag.com 2019). For the year 2017, passengers travelled
between the 2700 pairs of the different countries via the Suvarnabhumi airport and it is almost
what the Hong Kong airport achieves. The largest volume of passenger inflow came from the
countries like the UK, Germany, India, Japan, China and Thailand as well. Each of the
previously mentioned country pairs routinely attracts over 300,000 passengers annually. The
largest number of the international to international passenger inflow are between the China and
Pakistan, China and India, Australia and India. The passengers that travel from the
Suvarnabhumi airport to several destinations in Thailand account for 39 percent. The four
airports in Thailand account for about 90 percent of the traffic. The dominant tourist destinations
in Thailand are Krabi, Chiang Mai, Koh Samui, Phuket. One third of the connecting passengers
comes from the tourist destinations and tourist hotspots (oag.com 2019). The top countries that

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are connected via the Subarnabhumi Airport between the period march 2016 to February 2017
are presented in Appendix 3.
Airport industry of Thailand is tended to grow in a continuous way and this has occurred
due to the positive growth both in the international and domestic tourism. Both the
Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports have increased the number of the flights considering
the increase in in demand. The number of the aircraft movement has increased by 5.41 percent at
both the airports. The total number of the passengers handled at both the airports is even greater
than 98 million and it is an increase in 9.3 percent. The total postal and freight volume amounts
to about 1.4 million and it has increased by 9.7 percent in comparison to the year 2016
(airportthai 2019).
Table 2: Air Traffic for the year 2017 [source: airportthai.co.th 2019]
The number of the scheduled commercial flights for the year 2017 were estimated to be
operated 136 airlines. Among these 19 airlines provided the airfreight services. The domestic

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flight services were provided by 9 airlines. The total number of international flights operated by
the Suvarnabhumi airport (BKK) and Don Meaung airport (DMK) is 110 and 17 respectively.
While the total number of domestic flights operated by BKK and DMK are 4 and 4 respectively.
The names of the newcomers and the suspended airlines are listed below.
Figure 1: List of the newcomers and the suspended airlines [source: airportthai 2019]

8AIRPORT MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
In Thailand, the aviation industry is more competitive and the airlines continued to
increase the number of the airlines by importing new aircrafts so that a competitiveness in
maintained. Due to this the number of the routes and the frequencies expanded considerably.
Domestic air transport increased throughout the country and this lead to the increase in the
number of the low cost carrier (LCC) aircrafts. The number of the LCC has increased from the
DMK to the other airports in Thailand. The number of international scheduled route services for
BKK and DMK has increased by 159 and 65 respectively. The total number of domestic
scheduled route services for BKK and DMK are 14 and 25 respectively. The figure below shows
the proportion of the non-schedules flights, schedules flights, domestic flights and the
international flights (airportthai 2019).
Figure 2: proportion of the non-schedules flights, schedules flights, domestic flights and the
international flights in Thailand [source: airportthai.co.th 2019].
3. Assessment of the current situation in Don Meaung Airport and its potential role in
future
The passenger traffic has increased to more than double over the last four years and this
has occurred due to the quick expansion of the low cost airlines in Thailand. It is important to

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mention that the in the year 2017, Don Meaung has handled 38 million passengers and it
matched the previous status of being the only one international airport in Bangkok. After the
opening of the Suvarnabhumi Airport, Don Meaung slowly established as one of the world’s
largest low cost carrier airport. It is highlighting fact that the in the year 2018, Don Meaung is
likely to become as one of the first airport low cost carrier airport that will handle more than 40
million passengers in a single year. Don Meaung accounts for the 94 percent of the low cost
carriers with a seat capacity of 94 percent (centreforaviation 2019). While, Don Meaung
accounted for the 97 percent of the overall low cost carrier aircraft in the year 2017. The two
international airports Suvarnabhumi and the Don Maeung serve the capital city Bangkok,
Thailand. Don Meaung is located at a distance of 27 kms from the central business district of
Bangkok. Don Meaung is one of the oldest international airports in Asia as well as
internationally. The Don Meaung airport is now considered to be a low cost hub and has the
main base of the Orient Thai Airlines, Thai AirAsia X, Thai lion Air, Nok Air. Don Meaung
houses 2 terminals and the first terminal is an international terminal which hosts many regional
and worldwide services. The international terminal is even smaller in size than the regional
terminals and houses 3 different levels. Don Meaung offers a wide range of services to the
passengers at the international level (don-mueang-airport.com 2019). The first level is an arrival
hall, the second level is closed for the passengers and the third level is a departure level. The
airlines that serve the terminal 1 are Maldivian Airlines, Sabaidee Airways, Siam Air Transport,
V Air, Tigerair Taiwan, Scoot Airlines, Malindo Air, Thai AirAsia X, Indonesia AirAsia,
AirAsia Berhad. While the second terminals serve the regional and the domestic flights and
offers 4 levels of services despite being a domestic terminal. The first level is domestic arrival,
the second level is s airline office level, the third level is departures, and the fourth level is

10AIRPORT MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
services. The Airlines that serve the terminal 2 are Nok Air, Thai Smile, Thai Lion Air, orient
Thai Airlines, Thai AirAsia. The revenue and expenditure for the year 2016 and 2017 is provided
so that an overview can be presented (don-mueang-airport.com 2019). This financial chart
provides an insight that the Airport of Thailand is a profit making business entity.
Table 2: Revenue and Expenditure of the Don Meaung Airport (airportthai 2019)
Financial statement of 2017 Million Baht
Revenue 11,003.85
Expenditure 5456.37
Financial statement of 2016
Revenue 9716.83
Expenditure 4939.28
It has been reported by bangkokpost.com (2019), that the revenue if Don Meaung will
increase by whooping billion baht in a year due to the renovated terminal 2 building. The
revenue of Don Meaung will increase by 20 percent each year due to an increase in the
commercial area within the terminal 2. This was developed to accommodate the increase in the
domestic passengers. The renovated terminal 2 will lead to an increase from 6000 sq m to a
16,000 sq m. The increased area will also 267 more shops. It has been said by the airport agency
that the number of the passengers will increase by about 16 to 18 percent and it will be
specifically between the January to March.
4. Alternative strategy for Bangkok so that it can efficiently become and international and
a domestic hub
The old terminal of the Don Meaung International Airport can be demolished so that a
new terminal can be built and it can cater to the increasing demand of passengers. The new

11AIRPORT MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
terminal can be a potential part of the megaproject (34 billion baht) of renovating the Don
Meaung airport. The project will help in the expansion of the Don Meaung airport and it will be
finished within the timeline of 2020 to 2025. After the completion of the project the terminal will
be called terminal 3. This terminal will serve the increased inflow of the passengers along with
the terminals 1 and 2. The terminal 3 will deal with the international passengers and due to this it
will accommodate the international passengers that increased by 20.8 percent in the year 2017 in
comparison to the 2.6 percentage increase in the domestic passengers (figure 3) (bangkokpost
2019). This terminal 3 will be built by the year 2021 and can serve 40 million passengers
annually. The new terminal can also be linked with the SRT red Line Network which is presently
under construction. This high speed railway can be connected with both the Subarnabhumi and
the Don Meaung Airports. Besides the construction of a new terminal, a new building can be
constructed at the terminal 3 so that it can serve as a parking lot for the terminal 1. This parking
lot will be used for the check-ins and it can serve the increased number of international
passengers. It has been noticed that the increased number of congestion is due to the less number
of check ins and the new check ins will reduce the congestion by 30 to 40 percent (bangkokpost
2019).

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Figure 3: The increasing in the traffic of the aircrafts and passengers in each year [source:
bangkokpost 2019]
It has been estimated that there has been a rise of 12 percent in comparison to the year
2017. Thus, the increasing the number of the terminals at the airport and the check-ins can
drastically increase the number of the chartered flights and the low cost airlines. Considering the

13AIRPORT MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
popularity of the low cost carrier aircraft, more aircrafts can be imported for the purpose of
serving more number of the passengers. It is highlighting to mention that there is an airport
located in the Uttarradit’s Pha Chuk Subdistrict of Mueang. This airfield was previously used for
the airfreight and later on 1 flight per day was operated from this airport. The land is presently
used by the Maejo University and it can be turned into an area having new airport by a private
company. The reconstruction of the new airport will provide convenience for the people looking
forward to travel (bangkokpost 2019).
The Airport management can also plan for the implementation of the renovation projects
aimed towards the handling the passenger operations. A jet bridge renovation project can be
undertaken and installed at the immigration projects so that the passenger handling capacity can
be increased from 2000 to 3000 passengers per hour. The Subarnabhumi airport handles
approximately 60 million passengers per year and it exceeds the maximum capacity of 45
million. Thus, a short term developmental plan can be framed for the Subarnabhumi and it will
not require much funds. The major focus will be put on to the better management of the space
along with the installation of the automated systems to facilitate the operations (channelnewsasia
2019).
Thailand can adopt can adopt a three airport city policy so that it can cater to the needs of
the passengers in the next 10 years. This will lead to the investment into the airspace
improvement along with the improvement in the traffic management in the Bangkok. This will
support an annual inflow of 200 million pf passengers in the future. The passenger traffic has
exceeded at both the airports and by the year 2018 it will exceed 100 million. The capacity at the
BKK will increase by 50 percent with the construction of the new terminal and a third runway.
Don Meaung do not have the potential for further increase in future due to the constraints in the

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runway and airspace. With the construction of the high speed rail the passengers will be able to
reach the airports in less time. However, the major drawback or the weakness of having three
airports in Bangkok is that it will lead to traffic congestion and put further pressure on the
tourism sector as well as the natural resources (centreforaviation 2019).
Conclusion
From the above discussion it can be concluded that the both the DMK and BKK are the
major lifelines for the international and the domestic passengers. Both the airports have exceeded
their annual handling capacity of the passengers. It is important to mention that the construction
of the third airport will greatly help in easing the burden of international and the domestic
passengers. Furthermore, the short term development at the BKK will help in serving the
international passengers. The DMK airport also require the setup of new terminals along with a
revamped parking spot for the increased number of passenger traffic.

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Appendix
Appendix 1 (donmueangairport 2019)

19AIRPORT MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
Appendix 2 (donmueangairport 2019)

20AIRPORT MANAGEMENT AND OPERATION
Appendix 3 (oag 2019)