Southeast Asia's largest airport, Suvarnabhumi officially opened at the end of September after over forty years of planning and building that at a cost if US $4 billion converted a swamp into a huge complex the size of a small city. On the whole, passenger feedback has been reported as favourable. The new airport replaces Don Muang, an overcrowded, dark and dirty airport with a golf course stuck between the runways.

The new airport has a massive departure hall similar to that in Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur. First class and business passengers have separate check-in areas complete with leather couches. Once you get through the immigration control, you are confronted with a large statue of a snake being pulled in two directions by opposing factions. Padmassana says that it depicts the Hindu legend of the churning of the milk ocean. Many travellers line up to have their photos taken against it.

Teething problems included some delays as computer check-in systems crashed and heavy rain revealed small leaks and passengers on the first arriving flight waited more than an hour for their baggage. But officials said most of the systems at the airport, known as Suvarnabhumi, or “golden land”, performed up to expectations.

The exterior is made up of huge glass sheets, lit up in blue neon at night. Approaching the airport by taxi, it looks a little like a series of low level Sydney Opera houses with beige coloured caterpillar sections fitting together like four extended arms. Inside, it is vast with massive walkways of shops and food outlets, some of which are surprisingly good value, for an international airport.

When the Beetle passed through Suvarnabhumi, there were still pieces of wire and assorted building detritus on the floor and when you looked up they had fallen from open hatches in the ceiling. There were workers in their hundreds still sawing marble or wood in various parts of the airport. Some parts of the airport clearly remain unfinished: the parking lot is a concrete shell, many airport lounges will not be completed before the end of the year and a light rail train connecting the airport to the city centre is not due for completion before November 2007, some say 2008. If anything, the major criticisms appear to centre around the fact that it is still difficult to get to the new airport except by private car or taxi rather than the airport not being quite finished on its opening.

With an annual capacity of 45 million passengers, Thai officials hope Suvarnabhumi will help surpass Hong Kong as a regional air hub. Last year, Bangkok had 39 million passengers, slightly fewer than the 40 million who used Hong Kong's airport. Singapore, another hub, had 32 million passengers and recently completed a renovation of one of its terminals.