Passengers flying from Suvarnabhumi’s new terminal advised to have at least 20 minutes in hand

“If you accidentally enter the new satellite terminal [SAT-1], you will have to restart the whole check-in process again and this delay may result in you missing your flight,” the Airports of Thailand (AOT) warned on Friday.

The terminal, for which a soft opening was held on Friday, is designed to handle 15 million passengers annually, marking a 33% increase in the airport’s capacity from 45 million passengers to 60 million.

Currently, two airlines are scheduled to use the SAT-1 terminals for specific routes. They are:

• Thai AirAsia X flights to and from Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Sapporo), South Korea (Seoul), and China (Shanghai)
• Thai Vietjet Air flights to and from Singapore, Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City) and Taiwan (Taipei).

“Check your boarding pass. If it says Gate S101 to S128, that means you need to travel from the main terminal to SAT-1 terminal to board your flight,” AOT director Kirati Kitmanawat said, adding that passengers are advised to use the automated people mover (APM) as the terminals are one kilometre apart.

Kirati added that according to a trial run, travelling from the main terminal to SAT-1 takes no more than 18 minutes.

Since the APM leaves every five minutes, he said, passengers should ensure they have at least 20 minutes to spare.

During the soft opening, up to 18 flights will use the SAT-1 terminal, 14 of which will be Thai AirAsia X and remainder Thai Vietjet Air. The terminal will be operating at full capacity by the end of this year.

Airlines that have expressed interest in using the new terminal include Emirates, Etihad, Qatar, Mahan Air, All Nippon and Thai Airways International.

The AOT estimates that in the first month of the soft opening, SAT-1 will handle 514 flights, with 142,761 passengers in total or 4,605 per day.