BANGKOK, Dec 14 – The Airports of Thailand (AoT) will speed up completion of the second phase expansion of Suvarnabhumi Airport to 2016, one year ahead of its earlier scheduled 2017.
The second phase project uses a Bt62.5 billion budget, said Transport Minister Sukampol Suwannathat. The ministry plans to make Suvarnabhumi Airport the region’s aviation hub.
Acting Suvarnabhumi Airport Director Somchai Sawasdipol said the second-phase expansion of Thailand’s gateway will lead to an AOT lack of liquidity from 2014-2517, so the agency plans to issue bonds and debentures to boost its liquidity.
The transport minister also spoke about developments with other Thai airports.
He said that AoT will develop Bangkok’s Don Mueang, mainly used for domestic flights, in cooperation with Thai Airways International as a maintenance centre and aviation industry hub. However, the airport continues to service charter flights and private jets.
Regarding reconstruction of Don Mueang Airport after this year’s floods, the eastern runway will be completed within 60 days or by February with a Bt489 million budget, while Bt1.25 billion will be spent to restore the western runway, to be operational in January.
Air Chief Marshal Sukampol said that the ministry instructed AoT to develop Phuket International Airport with a budget of Bt5.7 billion.
Under the project, an additional passenger terminal will be built and the three-kilometre runway will be extended by another 500-700 metres to serve large aircraft from Europe.
When finished, Phuket airport will be able to accommodate 12 million passengers, nearly doubling its existing capacity of 6.5 million passengers annually.
