Phuket’s X-Terminal officially opened

PHUKET: Phuket International Airport’s X-Terminal was officially opened yesterday, after a successful trial period serving Chinese and Russian charter flights.

“From now on, all international charter flights will check in at X-Terminal,” said Makin Petplai, president of Airports of Thailand (AoT).

“The check-in system works well. Passengers check in at the X-Terminal, then take the shuttle to the main terminal to clear Immigration and Customs. The shuttle bus runs every 15 minutes.”

The new terminal also has baggage transferring services, money exchange booths, a restaurant and shops, Mr Makin added.

“The airport has about 210 flights and 32,000 passengers per day. The main terminal can only support 2,400 passengers per hour, but during rush periods we have had up to 3,000. We were facing an overload and needed more room (story here).

“The X-Terminal will give us some space in the main terminal. It can support 1,000 customers per hour,” Mr Makin said.

— Saran Mitrarat