BANGKOK, 21 June 2018: Bangkok’s two airports saw passenger movements reach 36.3 million during January to April an increase of 6.87%.
Based on Airports of Thailand data for the four months, all the main gateway airports in Thailand, managed by AoT, saw steady to robust growth in passenger traffic with the exception of Hat Yai.
International passenger traffic at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports reached 23,628, 259, up 9.03% over the same period in 2017. Domestic passenger traffic stood at 12,766,991 up 3.10%. The two airports totalled 36,395,950 passenger movements, an increase of 6.87%.
Phuket’s airport’s passenger traffic continued to grow by 18.45% during the first four months of the year. The airport is fast reaching its revised passenger handling capacity despite having built new terminal facilities.
AoT registered a total of 7,209,602 passenger movements with 4,279,899 international passenger movements that grew by a massive 26.91%.
There are plans to build a second airport on the mainland that could serve both Phuket and Khao Lak and take pressure off the current airport located on the northwest tip of the island.
A similar robust growth in international passenger movements has been monitored at Chiang Mai airport with international passengers movements clocked at 933,038, up 16.16%.
The total passenger movements reached 3,848,185, up 9.05%. There are already signs that the airport will reach its ceiling for aircraft movements by 2019. To address that issue Chinese airlines are being asked to locate new flights to Chiang Rai, 180 km north of Chiang Mai.
Chiang Rai is a slow starter serving international airlines. There are just a handful of Chinese airlines that have taken advantage of incentives to land some of their holiday flights here rather than in Chiang Mai. Hong Kong Express, a low-cost airline, is the most successful flying in high-spend Hong Kong residents, while Vietjet is the most innovative for introducing what is now a popular Chiang Rai-Phuket route.
For the first four months it recorded 78,298 international passenger movements with total passenger traffic reaching 990,000, up 16.24%. AoT says the international passenger traffic count is below the minimum for a percentage change indicator.
Hat Yai, also under AoT management, recorded 1,448,753 passenger movements, January to April, down 3.66%.
Domestic passenger movements, at 1,331,602, were down 6.99%, while 117,151 international passenger movements showed a growth of 62.62%.
