Issue 16

As tourism numbers seem set to spiral, Bangkok is about to embark on an ambitious new project to ramp up its two international airports.

Thailand’s government will upgrade airports across the country, including Bangkok’s two international visitors hubs Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang Airports, now cruising close to their 60 million passenger a year capacity, as it seeks to boost tourist numbers and lift the country’s economy.

The new projects will complement a range of new airport projects in Phuket, Krabi, Hat Yai and Chiang Mai that have been completed in recent years that have helped to accommodate the Southeast Asian region’s booming low cost carrier market and additional regional infrastructure is underway.

They also represent the government’s determination that the tourist sector will rise to fresh heights in coming years. “The second-phase expansion of Suvarnabhumi airport will have to be done quickly to meet increasing numbers of tourists," Air Force Chief Aie Marshal Prajin Juntong told media recently.

Airports Authority of Thailand Director and Acting President Nirandra Theeranatsin said in October that it expected 51m passengers would arrive between October and March, a 10.6% increase from last year's high season.

The big ticket items in the programme by the Airports Authority of Thailand are Bangkok’s two airports.
Don Mueang was originally shuttered in 2006 after the completion of Suvarnabhumi, the new purpose built international airport. But skyrocketing visitor numbers and new low cost carrier (LLC) demand saw it reopen in 2012. Traffic lifted quickly and by 2013, the “old” airport was receiving about 15m passenger each year while Suvarnabhumi took 50 million people per year, five million more than its original design.

Don Mueang has found a new lease of life 100 years after it was opened in 1914 thanks to the surging popularity of LCCs. Already this year has seen the launch of three new international carriers: Air Asia X, NokScoot and Jet Asia.

The extension to Suvarnabhumi was handed to EPM Consortium in 2012 allowing its capacity to increase from the current 45 million passengers a year to 60 million passengers a year. This will entail more facilities including a concourse, parking buildings and full connections with Bangkok’s growing number mass transport systems which are also set to increase under the government’s extensive plans to increase visitor and commuter infrastructure as Bangkok becomes a wealthier city.

For Suvarnabhumi, this is the first of up to five development phases that have been scoped by city planners which, if completed, will enable the country’s main airport to handle 120 million passengers per year with up to four runways.

Words by Michael Sainsbury