But, across the city at Suvarnabhumi Airport, passengers were complaining of fewer connecting flights to popular tourist destinations and having to transfer to the recommissioned airport, formerly known as Bangkok International Airport.

Airports of Thailand acting president Kulya Pakakrong said the company was satisfied with overall operations at the reopened site.

"We have prepared facilities at Don Mueang to service domestic flights and returning passengers," Kulya said.

She admitted to some teething problems during the first hours - mainly passenger inconvenience.

Thai Airways International transferred most of its domestic flights from Suvarnabhumi to Don Mueang. Nok Air and One Two Go moved all services.

The three airlines provide a total of 140 flights a day carrying 18,000 passengers.

Passengers travelling from Chiang Mai aboard Thai Airways flight TG1115 yesterday expressed satisfaction in spite of the 55-minute flight time.

A Phuket businessman said TG1214 touched down safely.

Thai Airways president Apinan Sumanaseni said the airline was happy with operations at the reopened airport. There have been no serious problems.

Apinan said some passengers were confused over the change, however.

Many arriving international passengers were not informed of changes and had to wait hours for connecting flights to Phuket and Krabi or were unexpectedly transferred to Don Mueang to catch internal services.

Apinan said the airline increased flights to popular tourist destinations to cope with passengers stranded at the international airport.

 It added three flights to Phuket, one to Chiang Mai and one to Krabi.

These additional flights will remain on the schedule until the end of April. Thai Airways will introduce a new domestic timetable in May.

An airline executive said operations at Don Mueang would make travel more convenient for some internal travellers.

Thai Airways still operates its connections to Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Phuket and Krabi from Suvarnabhumi.

According to Apinan, yesterday's first flight out of Don Mueangwas TG1020 to Ubon Ratchathani and it arrived on time. But the first in, from Don Mueang to Udon Thani, was a little delayed due to technical difficulties.

The airline said six cargo and mail routes would operate from Don Mueang and use its former domestic cargo terminal. The cities covered are Phitsanulok, Khon Kaen, Udon Thani, Ubon, Ratchathani, Surat Thani and Hat Yai.

Low-cost airline Nok Air chief executive Patee Sarasin said it relocated all flights from Suvarnabhumi to Don Mueang.

It operates seven flights a day to Phuket, six to Chiang Mai, five to Hat Yai, three to Udon Thani and Nakhon Si Thammarat and twice a day to Trang and Krabi. It flies to twice weekly to Loei.

According to a Nok Air officer at Don Mueang, there were no passenger complaints but staff felt that friends and relatives collecting passengers needed better flight information.

Low-cost carrier One-Two-Go offered first-day passengers lucky draws.

It expected passenger numbers to grow significantly as a result of better passenger access to Don Mueang.

Suchat Sritama

The Nation