Suvarnabhumi Airport Struggles With Floods, Flight Delays
Flooding at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport disrupted ground operations on September 26-27, preventing staff from reaching the facility and sidelining baggage equipment, causing flight delays and longer waits for luggage. Thai Airways and ai
Bangkok — Suvarnabhumi Airport has explained that widespread flooding has disrupted ground-handling operations, causing flight delays and leaving passengers waiting longer for their baggage.
Kittipong Kittikhachorn, director of Suvarnabhumi Airport under Airports of Thailand (AOT), said that the airport had received complaints from Thai Airways passengers about delayed departures and long waits for baggage on arrival.
The problems began on 26 September and continued into 27 September.
An airport inspection found that flooding in several areas had affected the ability of Thai Airways' ground-handling staff to travel to the airport. Some employees were unable to report for duty, resulting in a shortage of ground staff.
Some Thai Airways baggage carts were also out of service, further disrupting ground operations, including the handling of departing flights and the transfer of baggage from arriving flights.
As a result, some departures were delayed, arriving passengers faced longer-than-usual waits for their luggage and baggage was left behind from several flights.
Suvarnabhumi Airport said it was coordinating with Thai Airways to urgently increase its ground-handling workforce, repair faulty baggage carts and provide replacement equipment to speed up the movement of delayed baggage.
The airport is also coordinating the display of baggage status information on airport screens and making regular announcements in baggage-claim areas.
Airport staff have been deployed to assist passengers and provide updates in both service and baggage-claim areas.
Passengers who have not received their baggage can fill out a delayed baggage report with Thai Airways to track their luggage and arrange delivery.
Thai Airways' Lost and Found contacts at Suvarnabhumi Airport are:
International flights: 02-134-5453 to 55 Domestic flights: 02-134-5473 to 74 Thai Airways Contact Center: 02-356-1111
Suvarnabhumi Airport said it would continue monitoring the situation closely and coordinating with Thai Airways to address the staffing shortage and restore normal services as soon as possible.
Thai Airways separately confirmed that flooding across Bangkok had prevented some ground-service employees from reaching Suvarnabhumi Airport, contributing to a shortage of staff handling baggage delivery. The airline said it was urgently working to resolve the problem.
