Moo Baan Romreudee is one of two housing estates that almost every aircraft will be flying over before landing at the new airport.

So after several hours of enduring the noise of planes flying over their roofs, the Romreudee residents were happy to welcome the group from Airport of Thailand's environmental division who arrived with hi-tech equipment in hand.

"They said they feel sorry for me and think I should be moved as the noise level is too high for people to live here," said Jutharat Chantorn, a marketing director in the Bangkok office of a transnational company.

Jutharat is one of about 200 residents who lives at the Moo Baan Romreudee. The estate is located on the flight path that jet planes use as they come in to land.

The residents have repeatedly voiced their concerns about the noise pollution generated by thousands of planes landing at the airport. Until today, no one from the airport authority showed up to listen to their grievances even during the soft operation of the airport two weeks ago.

Yesterday, The Nation published Moo Baan Romreudee resident Wanida Sanwanitchpattana's invitation to airport director Somchai Swasdipol to stay the night at her house to experience first hand the noise of planes descending.

Although he has yet to accept the invitation, Somchai said that if it were proved residents were adversely affected by the noise pollution from the new airport, they would be compensated.

However, Yuppadee Limma-thuroskul, head of Suvarnabhumi Airport's environmental division, said it was too early to draw any conclusions from yesterday's noise assessment.

Pennapa Hongthong

The Nation