Suvarnabhumi International Airport, governed by Airports of Thailand (AoT), is set to soft-launch its Satellite 1 (SAT-1) terminal on September 28, following a successful full-scale trial involving 180 mock passengers and their luggage. The trial aimed to evaluate operations at both the SAT-1 satellite passenger terminal and the primary terminal, with Thai Airways offering assistance by supplying cabin crew and aircraft for the process.

 

Kittipong Kittikachorn, the Director of Suvarnabhumi, stated that the trial encompassed a comprehensive operation involving aircraft, incoming and outgoing passengers, transfer passengers, baggage handling systems, and cargo operations. The Immigration Division 2, the Cargo Clearance Customs Bureau, Aeronautical Radio of Thailand and Bangkok Aviation Fuel Services were also present to oversee the operations, he added.

 

Kittipong also revealed that two additional trials are scheduled for the coming days, with Thai AirAsia X and Worldwide Flight Services Bangkok Air Ground Handling Co Ltd conducting one on Tuesday, and Thai Vietjet conducting another on September 20. The latter trial is specifically designed for departing passengers on night flights.

 

by Alex Morgan 

Photo by Joy Presbitero on Unsplash

 

Full story: https://thethaiger.com/news/business/suvarnabhumi-airports-sat-1-terminal-to-soft-launch-boosting-capacity-by-33

 

-- The Thaiger 2023-09-11

 

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Exactly where is it?

1 hour ago, Deserted said:

Exactly where is it?

Parallel to the D concourse.

Quote

The commencement of the SAT-1 terminal will eliminate the need for international passengers to take shuttle buses to their gates...

(Quoted from article linked in OP.)  That will be a nice improvement.  Glad to see the word "eliminate" instead of "reduce."

3 hours ago, khunjeff said:

Parallel to the D concourse.

okay thanks. Let's hope they staff it sufficiently, which is not always the case at swampy.

1 hour ago, wpcoe said:

(Quoted from article linked in OP.)  That will be a nice improvement.  Glad to see the word "eliminate" instead of "reduce."

I hope that's true, but I think it's optimistic. Airlines don't only use remote stands because no contact gate is available - some use it because it's cheaper, others for enhanced security of the aircraft, and still others because the incoming flight is domestic, and the next one international (or vice versa).

 

In the last situation, they prefer to just bus pax back and forth rather than having to move the plane between gates (since BKK, unlike some other airports, has no capability to change a gate from domestic to international by moving barriers and doors).

39 minutes ago, Deserted said:

okay thanks. Let's hope they staff it sufficiently, which is not always the case at swampy.

It's just extra gates (not check-in or security or immigration or baggage claim), so staffing shouldn't be an issue.

2 hours ago, wpcoe said:

Quote

The commencement of the SAT-1 terminal will eliminate the need for international passengers to take shuttle buses to their gates...

(Quoted from article linked in OP.)  That will be a nice improvement.  Glad to see the word "eliminate" instead of "reduce."

Amazing if true. They've been using shuttle buses since the day Suvarnabhumi Airport opened.

They could at least have shown a picture of the new thing rather than a photo of the existing terminal building (concourse C).

7 hours ago, khunjeff said:

It's just extra gates (not check-in or security or immigration or baggage claim), so staffing shouldn't be an issue.

As the article states, the new gates will allow for a 33% increase in capacity.  They will need to add more people at check-in, security, baggage handling and immigration.   Hopefully it will be a manageable rate of increase in the number of passengers.

Yes let's hope so. They could send a few more airlines up to Don Muang also, that would help too. 

12 hours ago, statman78 said:

As the article states, the new gates will allow for a 33% increase in capacity.  They will need to add more people at check-in, security, baggage handling and immigration.   Hopefully it will be a manageable rate of increase in the number of passengers.

The "33% increase" line isn't at all believable. The new satellite should make the existing concourses less crowded and reduce the need to use bus gates, but at this point will just be spreading out existing flights. There won't be a real possiblity for a meaningful increase in flight capacity until the new runway opens (years late, but now expected for mid-2024).

Well, to me it seems as though the airport is large enough to handle the amount of traffic it gets already but where they go wrong is they leave it understaffed and don't have enough ready to process the amount coming into the country. I've seen swampy understaffed many times, in fact I would say its quite normal.