Abstract
Aircraft noise from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport has been a significant environmental issue since the airport opened in 2006. Residential areas around the airport are expanding rapidly and local residents are protesting about the noise from the new airport. This paper reports on the findings of a preliminary exploration of airline passengers' and airport residents' attitudes towards aircraft noise and other environmental externalities at Suvarnabhumi Airport. Focus groups were conducted in September 2011 with residents and airline passengers to gather the views of the polluters (air passengers) and those experiencing the pollution (residents). The focus groups found that while residents consider the airport brings some socio-economic benefits, it also creates a significant noise nuisance and local environmental burden. Findings from the airline passenger groups, meanwhile, ascertained that passengers are well aware of aviation-related problems and may be willing to pay to offset for the environmental damage their flights cause but they do not trust the transparency of current offsetting processes. A Stated Choice design experiment tested different means of presenting aircraft noise and found that residents favored flight frequencies as a proxy for aircraft noise. The findings from the focus groups informed the design of the main stated choice experiments which will be implemented in 2012.