Move to expand six Thai airports
AIRPORTS of Thailand Plc (AOT) is pushing its master plan to further develop six airports with a budget of 200 billion baht which will lead to an additional capacity of 100 million passengers, Thai News Agency said today (Feb. 15).
AOT President Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said after checking the progress of Phuket aiport expansion that the master plan to further develop these six airports from 2016-2026 with 200 billion baht will be submitted to its board of directors meeting on February 22 for final consideration after which it will be tabled to the Ministry of Transport and then the Cabinet for approval.
He added that 50% of this investment fund will go to improve Suvarnabhumi Airport with this master plan ready to be implemented and unlikely to be changed.
Once the project is completed it will lead to all six AOT airports being able to receive an additional 100 million passengers taking today’s total of 83.5 million to 200 million people.
Where the first phase expansion of Phuket airport is concerned, this is expected to be completed in December this year as planned and will increase the passenger capacity from 6.5 million to 12.5 million.
Mr Nitinai added that in the second phase being implemented from 2017 to 2022 the passenger capacity of Phuket airport will further climb from 12.5 to 18 million. The paperwork is complete and work can start immediately upon getting the go-ahead from the board with piling expected to begin in 2019.
He added that on February 10 Suvarnabhumi airport set a new high by receiving 196,293 passengers.
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Top: An airplane getting close to Phuket airport. Photo: Andy Mitchell (CC-BY-SA-2.0)
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