Aot To Privatize Management Of Suvannabhumi Airport

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AOT to Privatize Management of Suvannabhumi Airport

BANGKOK: -- Airport of Thailand plans to grant concession to the private sector for managing the duty-free area at Suvannabhumi Airport.

Airport of Thailand or AOT President Piyaphan Jampasut revealed after a board meeting yesterday that the company's executives approved a plan to grant concession to the private sector to manage the duty-free area at Suvannabhumi Airport.

The AOT said the concession will be granted for a ten year period, in a deal worth five billion baht which is decreased from the original figure of 6.5 billion baht.

The concession for the management of passengers including official accommodation, the communication system, the duty free area, revenue collection, warehouse management, and logistics within the airport will be granted through a bidding process.

Members at the meeting proposed that the AOT streamlines the management plan to make it more efficient, especially to clarify the punitive measures in case of the contract violation. AOT expects the bidding process will take place sometime in May.

Those at the meeting also acknowledged the volume of air traffic during the previous six months at the six airports managed by the company those are Don Muang, Chiang Mai, Had Yai, Phuket, Chiang Rai and Suvannabhumi airports.

Compared to the same period last year, the total number of flights has increased by 16.54 per cent, the number of international flights has increased by 26.21 per cent, while the number of the domestic flights has increased by 23.04 per cent.

The number of passengers has also increased by 26.48 per cent with a 26.21 per cent increase in international passengers and a 26.92 per cent increase in domestic passengers.

At the same time, the total number of air parcels has increased by 31.69 per cent with a 32.42 per cent increase in international parcels and a 24.46 per cent increase in domestic parcels.

The increase in the amount of air traffic has shown that air transportation is in recovery after the sluggish period in 2009.

However, the current political crisis has lowered the average number of air passengers in March and April by 3.4 per cent.

-- Tan Network 2010-04-29

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[wpcoe]

??? I thought King Power had a contract to manage the duty-free shopping area?

[smokie36]

Looks like this spells the end for the King Power monopoly and about time too!

Sadly I guess they will be replaced by multi-national companies selling equally poor products at inflated prices. Oh well...