The biggest airports in the Land of Smiles – Suvarnabhumi, Phuket and Don Mueang – are all undergoing massive expansions, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
With international arrivals up 21 percent in 2013, Thailand’s airports are overwhelmed with visitors. Officials believe this trend will likely continue after the ASEAN Community comes into effect in 2015.
The country’s biggest airport, Suvarnabhumi, is getting a new passenger terminal, more parking bays and a new runway that will enable it to handle 60 million fliers by 2017. Suvarnabhumi was built to process 45 million passengers a year, but it is already seeing 53 million passengers annually. With the building taking place Suvarnabhumi’s airport manager hopes it can more than double its intake to 120 million passengers a year.
Don Mueang International Airport, located north of Bangkok, reopened in 2012 to help relieve the congestion at the main airport. It is handling 16 million travelers annually, but was intended to handle 10.5 million. The renovation of its second terminal is expected to be completed within a year to boost capacity to at least 20 million passengers.
Phuket International, which handles travelers heading to Thailand’s famous beaches, is stretched as well, with 9.5 million passengers a year, well above the 6 million it was designed to handle. The airport’s managers are now constructing a new terminal and more parking bays.
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