Bangkok airport ready for take-off

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LONDON, England (CNN) -- After 40 years in the making, the opening of Bangkok's new airport has been confirmed for 3am, September 28, with everyone from the prime minister of Thailand to industry experts hoping that the $3.7bn airport will operate smoothly.

Located 16 miles east of the city on a former swamp, the airport's impressive new terminal has been built to handle 45 million passengers annually and is expected to surpass Singapore and Malaysia as the region's major hub.

Limited domestic flights from the new airport will operate before the official opening date, with Thai Airways, its low-cost arm Nok Air and Bangkok Air based there from September 15.

Suvarnabhumi -- meaning Golden Land in Thai -- is Bangkok's long-awaited answer to the aging and overcrowded Don Muang, but has been beset by overrunning costs and delays during its protracted construction.

The opening of Suvarnabhumi is set to coincide with the closing of all operations at Don Muang, a proposal that has brought concern from many within the industry, more so than the expected teething troubles that are common for new airports.

Plans had been proposed to allow some operations to remain at Don Muang, but now it has been decided that nearly all commercial cargo and passenger flights will operate from Suvarnabhumi, with only a few charter flights using the old airport.

With a general election looming, Thailand's prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, is banking on the flagship airport being a major success. The confidence of Thailand's premier that the airport will open on time and without a hitch is not matched by all industry experts .

Despite tests and simulated check-in and security procedures, there are concerns that the airport's system are not fully ready and that the airlines that will use them have not had time to prepare.

"The key thing is to have the airport operating, commercially only when it is operationally ready," said Albert Tjoeng for the IATA.

Airports of Thailand have not consulted with the IATA, so only they know how prepared Suvarnabhumi will be.

"Being operationally ready means having undergone the required robust and comprehensive testing and trials to ensure that the various systems are working 100 percent and are seamlessly integrated. That's the key concern that we have."

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