However, the trips provide an opportunity to get out one or other of my cameras and start snapping, although for convenience I pack away the tripod in the suitcase, and the images here have been handheld. Somehow airports feel different at night, there is less noise, and the hustle and bustle usually much less, as if people are just quietly and patiently waiting to continue their journeys, to get on their airplane seat, take the welcome drink and snack or dinner, then crash out. Even with the amount of lighting, at first one thinks the airport is bright, but in reality there are many dark corners, although in our transitory mood, I doubt many of us notice.
So, about the airport: Suvarnabhumi is Bangkok's international airport and was officially opened for limited domestic flight service on 15 September 2006, and opened for most domestic and all international commercial flights on 28 September. It is currently the main hub for Thai Airways International, Bangkok Airways, Orient Thai Airlines, Thai AirAsia and will be a hub for the new Thai Tiger Airways. It is located in Racha Thewa in Bang Phli district, about 25 kilometres (16 miles) east of downtown Bangkok. The name Suvarnabhumi was chosen by King Bhumibol Adulyadej and refers to the golden kingdom hypothesised to have been located somewhere in Southeast Asia. The airport has the world's tallest control tower (132.2 metres / 434 feet), and the world's third largest single-building airport terminal (563,000 square metres / 6,060,000 square feet); its also the 5th busiest airport in Asia, having handled 40.5 million passengers in 2009, and is also a major air cargo hub.
On 26 November 2008, the airport suffered from an illegal occupancy by protestors of the P.A.D, the People's Alliance for Democracy, closing the departure lounge and blocking exits, and causing almost three thousand passengers to be stranded within the main terminal. Another 350,000 travellers were stranded inside the country as all flights were grounded for a short while. On the 2nd December 2008 the protesters agreed to leave the airport to permit the resumption of flights, but security checks, clean-ups and recertification once the illegal occupation ended delayed the airport from being fully functional until 5 December 2008.
In 2009, Ireland warned its citizens to be on guard while browsing in the airport's shops. "We have received reports that innocent shoppers have been the subject of allegations of suspected theft and threatened that their cases will not be heard for several months unless they plead guilty and pay substantial fines," the Irish government wrote in a travel advisory, which also advised shoppers to retain all receipts to "avoid great distress". Britain and Denmark also posted online advisories about hard-to-detect demarcation lines between shops in Suvarnabhumi's sprawling duty-free zone and warned shoppers to be alert about carrying unpaid merchandise across the lines.
On October 1, 2010, two hundred armed men occupied the airport's parking lot for an hour, blocking the building's entrances and seizing ticket booths in order to collect fares from motorists. Airport security personnel failed to respond to the incident, which is reported to have resulted from an internal dispute within Parking Management Co., a firm contracted by the airport to run its parking facilities. That aside, it is rather a nice airport, albeit not the best in the region, if you like the spartan feel of exposed steel and bare concrete.
A very interesting series of shots Grant. Thanks for the story that goes with it. Had heard some of it through the news but nowhere as detailed. Our biggest cities are nowhere near this size ;-) I'd be lost in such a huge place!
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