Planes taking off from and landing at Suvarnabhumi Airport should be directed to use the eastern runway as much as possible to reduce the number of residents affected by the noise of jet engines, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) proposed yesterday.

Deputy PCD director-general Suphat Wangwongwatthana suggested the idea as a short-term solution to the noise problem faced by around 200 households living in several housing estates located near the western runway, where the noise level now exceeds the safe limit of 70 decibels.

Another short-term solution proposed at a meeting between the PCD and affected residents was to reduce flights between 10pm and 7am, but this idea was discarded because it would affect the international schedules of numerous airlines.

Relocating the residents, with costs and compensation to be paid by Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT), the newly opened airport's operator, was suggested as a long-term solution.

AOT president Chotisak Asapa-viriya said 13 noise-level detection stations would be built within the next few months and that the AOT would hold a meeting with the PCD to discuss the problem and possible solutions.

Apart from noise pollution, many housing estates have experienced flooding since the airport was built because the site, formerly known as Nong Ngu Hao (Cobra Swamp), served as a natural catchment area.

Residents on Soi Pherm Phatthana complained they now suffered from both loud noise and polluted floodwater that had been stagnant for a month. One resident said they had petitioned the AOT about the flooding for more than two years, but never received a response.