BANGKOK, 8 January 2018: Airports of Thailand has released details of a plan to cut congestion at airports under its management.
Faced by increased traffic at all of its six managed airports AOT president, Jutin Sirisamapong, warned airports were in danger of becoming overcrowded for both passenger and aircraft traffic.
He quoted Bloomberg that said recently AOT was now the world’s largest market capitalisation companies in the international airport industry globally.
AOT shares rose 75% and peaked in May, last year, the highest in 13 years with a market capitalization of more than THB1 trillion.
This was made possible mainly by a boom in passenger traffic at all of the six airports (Suvarnabhumi. Don Mueang, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai and Chiang Rai).
Overall, expansion at the group’s main airports will increase capacity from 83.5 million passengers per year to a ceiling of 184 passengers, costing the publicly listed company THB 2.2 trillion in improvements.
In June, this year, phase 2 of the expansion of Phuket Airport should be completed. There are ongoing improvements being made at Don Mueang Airport that started in 2016. AOT will expand capacity to 42.5 million passengers per year.
In 2017, the number of passengers using AOT’s airports reached 133 million.
AOT has embarked on expansion at Suvarnabhumi Airport, the country’s main airport, under its Suvarnabhumi Airport Development Project that started in September 2016.
It will be completed by 2022, when capacity will increase to 60 million people per year up from the present level of 45 million passengers.
