Thailand Airports
A brief rundown on the domestic and international airports you are likely to find yourself at on one of our All Points East Thailand, small group tours.
While we found at least 10 of Thailand’s airports describing themselves as international , in several cases this is in name only and they don’t actually have any international arrivals or departures scheduled. It probably means they have the capacity to deal with connecting, international flights via one of Bangkok’s airports and/or international charter flights during high season – but it does make the airport in question sound more impressive.
These include: Chiang Rai’s Mae Fah Luang International Airport (CEI) and Surat Thani and Udon Thani airports (URT and UTH respectively.) Several others, including Hat Yai, Krabi, U Thapao and Koh Samui – HDY, KBV, UTP and USM – offer direct flights, (mainly with Air Asia), to regional destinations such as Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. (Krabi has a couple of Chinese destinations on its schedule, while U Thapao claims the intriguing option of direct flights to Irkutsk.
Thailand’s 3rd largest airport, in terms of passenger numbers, Phuket, offers a correspondingly wide range of destinations. However, with the latter not featuring on any of our tours or as a regular recommendation for extensions, the only airports that directly concern our international arrivals and departures are Chiang Mai, (CNX) and the two Bangkok airports Don Mueang, (DMK) and Suvarnabhumi, (BKK). The former principally deals with low-cost operators and inter-regional flights while long-haul flights from Europe and the Gulf arrive at the latter.
Chiang Mai International arrivals and departures
Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai Airport is a fully functioning international port with a wide range of inter-regional flights, numerous domestic offerings and frequent connections to both DMK and BKK. However, if you are travelling from Europe or the Gulf, then you will almost certainly find yourself transiting through Bangkok beforehand. In that case, immigration procedures are completed at Bangkok although you will be directed to international arrivals in Chiang Mai to collect your luggage. There is a half-hearted customs passage but no additional formalities at Chiang Mai.
Check-in for connecting, international flights (e.g. via one of the Bangkok airports), varies between the domestic and international terminals – presumably depending upon passenger numbers and whether it is worth the airline opening an international counter. If you check-in in at domestic, then you still have to walk back to international for customs and immigration procedures. With connecting flights, your luggage will be checked through to your final destination, after which, in Bangkok, you will remain in the transit area.
The airport is conveniently close to the city but does suffer from serious overcrowding at busy times and queues for check-in, immigration and customs can be lengthy. The airport has a few cafes and coffee shops while the international section has basic duty-free options. Domestic and international arrivals and departures are at the opposite ends of a single terminal building.
Our north Thailand tour finishes in Chiang Mai while our Thailand and Laos and Thailand, Laos and Vietnam tours begins here..
Bangkok Don Muang
Bangkok’s old airport, located just north of the downtown area, now mainly serves low-cost carriers on domestic and regional routes. (Note that, in our opinion, the local, low-cost carriers such as Air Asia, Viet Jet and Nok Air provide excellent service which isn’t always the case, elsewhere, with so-called budget airlines.) You may find yourself at Don Mueang if you’re travelling on to another regional destination after a Thai tour, or perhaps transferring to a Thai beach/island resort from a neighbouring airport such as Hanoi, Phnom Penh, Luang Prabang etc.
The airport is busy but more manageable than the huge Suvarnabhumi and offers a reasonable choice of duty-free shopping, cafes and restaurants. Domestic and international departure areas are adjacent, albeit interconnected and walkable distances apart. There are also a variety of options for the short journey into downtown Bangkok.
However, an arrival at Don Mueang and departure from Suvarnabhumi, or vice versa, is best avoided since the two airports are some distance apart and while free shuttle buses are available, traffic can render the journey tiresome.
Suvarnabhumi
The huge new airport southeast of Bangkok seems proud of its status as the World’s largest airport terminal although, in our view, this isn’t a positive as all that means is that a lot of walking is involved in any visit to the airport. This may be fine for some who are keen to do their 10,000 daily steps (it could mount up to much more in certain cases), but it’s really not great for older passengers or families. (We also find it irritating to walk past the identical sequence of say 10 designer stores and chain fast food cafes repeated over and over again, while food and drink prices at said outlets rival those at many European airports.) While we’re on a roll, we’ll also point out that, reportedly, corrupt airport officials have consistently failed to address the airport’s proliferation of petty thieves and touts. Despite being vast, the approximate 2024 capacity of the best part of 60 million passengers (the official capacity is 45 million), means the airport can be crowded and on a bad day the immigration, customs and check-in queues can be horrendous.
As you can see, our least favourite Thai airport but unavoidable for any visit to the kingdom and indeed a transit at BKK is equally unavoidable for many flights to neighbouring destinations such as Luang Prabang, Vientiane or Phnom Penh. Finally, note that the airport is some 30 kilometres from downtown Bangkok so at busy times of the day allow plenty of time for your transfers.
Krabi, Ao Nang Thailand airports – domestic travel
Krabi
Krabi Airport serves Koh Lanta, as well as the popular resort areas of Ao Nang, Railey etc. (Koh Libong is located in Trang Province, slightly further south, which has its own airport, (TST), although depending upon connecting flights etc we may sometimes suggest the additional drive to Krabi.)
On our last visit the small airport was undergoing a makeover so while it may be slightly larger now, we can’t comment on facilities. As an international airport, in the case of connecting flights in Bangkok, immigration procedures should be completed in Krabi and on arrival in Bangkok, you will remain in transit.
Kai Bae Beach Koh Chang, Trat Trat
One of the smallest of Thailand airports, Trat in the far eastern part of the country, serves the islands of Koh Chang, Koh Kut and Koh Mak. The airport, privately owned by Bangkok Airways, is located on the mainland, close to the corresponding ferry piers. Twice daily flights connect to Suvarnabhumi and there are customs and immigration services in place, so in theory, you should be able to check through on connecting international flights. There are minimal facilities at the small airport; however, Bangkok Airways shuttle buses have somewhat cornered the market in transfers to island resorts and charge, last time we looked, 650 baht per person from the airport to the resort, including the ferry. (Public, shared pick-up services, if you can find one, will work out to be at least 500 anyway.)
That covers most of the Thailand airports you’re likely to come across on our standard Thai tours and extensions with just an additional mention for Ubon Ratchathani Airport, (UBP), the finishing point for our Thailand World Heritage tour. While only serving Bangkok, there are several daily flights to both Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi for connecting international flights or hops to islands in Krabi, Trat etc.
