Airport expansion plans hastened across Thailand

With High Season approaching and the Thai government predicting big numbers, airport expansion plans are being fast-tracked. One of Thailand’s goals as international travel begins to return in greater numbers is to become a transport hub for Southeast Asia. To help realise the goal and make room for an influx of travellers, facilities are being expanded in both domestic and international airports around the country.

Smaller regional hubs race to expand and increase their capacity for domestic travellers. Krabi Airport in Southern Thailand will herald travellers to popular tourist destinations outside of Phuket. Khon Kaen Airport in the northeast will expand to accommodate more travellers to Isaan. Mae Sot Airport in the west will bring people to the Burmese border. And the new Betong Airport in the Deep South province of Yala will accommodate passengers near the Malaysian border.

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Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport is a primary focus, hoping to boost its hub status with new development. Expansions hope to allow the airport to accommodate up to 120 million passengers each year. The current capacity for the airport is about 45 million people per year, close to the total number of tourists that entered Thailand in 2019 before the pandemic.

The airport will expand from 51 to 79 gates with the construction of the satellite Terminal 1. That expansion is expected to be finished this year, along with the addition of a third runway. Other upgrades will be completed over the next several years.

A plan for construction next April is expected to add 348,000 square metres to the passenger terminal north. That build is scheduled to start in January and be finished by June 2025. The passenger terminal east will also see an expansion of an extra 66,000 square metres over the next two years. Plans are being studied for the possibility to expand in the west another 66,000 square metres as well.

DMK

The Airports of Thailand is working with the Department of Airports to expand regional airports in central Thailand as well as three major airports. Aside from Suvarnabhumi Airport, the secondary airport serving the greater Bangkok area, Don Mueang International Airport, will see upgrades. U-Tapao Airport in Rayong, the gateway to Pattaya in Chon Buri, it’s under expansion as well.

Don Mueang plans to accommodate an extra 18 million travellers each year. They can currently handle 30 million passengers per year. Expansion plans call for 12 new gates for flights to park in a third terminal covering 155,000 square metres of space. The design is already finalized and bidding will begin soon for construction contracts.

UTP

U-Tapao Airport is much smaller than its Bangkok counterparts, currently able to host 1.5 million travellers per year. Ambitious expansion plans will construct a second terminal and expand the capacity to five million passengers yearly. That new terminal isn’t expected to open until 2027 though.

All of these airports under the AoT will work in sync with high-speed rail projects to move people around the area quickly and easily. The plan is part of the Eastern Economic Corridor programme designed to bring investment into the Eastern region of the country.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post

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