AoT approves Suvarnabhumi Airport expansion plan

Bangkok – Airports of Thailand (AoT) has approved an investment budget of 4.2 billion baht for Suvarnabhumi’s expansion designed to increase the airport’s capacity. Construction is expected to start in 2019.

Dr. Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, the President of AoT said Monday that the board had approved the construction of a second terminal at the airport which will raise passenger handling capacity by 30 million passengers a year.

The project consists of seven major developments:

1. The construction of the second terminal located by the north of Concourse A with an area of approximately 348,000 square meters.
2. Construction work to improve airport concourses A, B and C.
3. The construction of an Airport and Multiplex Building (AMB) situated south of the new terminal with a building area of around 84,000 square meters.
4. Installation of an automatic transit system between the main terminal (MTB) along concourse A to the second terminal and the Airport Rail Link. The total distance of the system is about 2.5 kilometers.
5. Improvement of the passenger baggage handling system to support the increased number of passengers.
6. The construction of a road system within the airport to create an entrance and exit for the second terminal.
7. The construction of a public utility system suited to the new project.

Currently, AoT is in the process of developing the second phase of Suvarnabhumi Airport which is designed to raise annual passenger handling capacity to 60 million passengers in 2019 from 45 million now. AoT however, predicts that there will be approx 65 million and 68 million passengers in 2018 and 2019 respectively, which will exceed the capacity of phase 2. Therefore, the new second terminal is intended to solve the capacity shortfall.

Dr. Nitinai also added that the next step is to present the project and the investment budget to the Ministry of Transport and the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Board for their consideration before proposing it to the Cabinet. If Cabinet approves, construction is expected to being in 2019 and be finished in 2021.