Phuket Airport Will Not Close

[Phuket Post]

Phuket Airport will not close

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE

Despite a recent raft of rumours to the contrary Phuket International Airport (PIA) is not going to close during construction to upgrade its service capacity Director of PIA, Pornchai Eua-aree said. The construction to expand the international passenger terminal at PIA has already begun. Khun Pornchai explained that when completed the airport will have capacity to manage more passenger numbers in the near future. The international terminal will be able to process 1,480 passengers in rush hour when finished, instead of the current 630 passengers.

“We do not need to close the airport at all. I have no idea why there is such a rumour. Normally when we have to expand the airport either in the airfield or for the terminal we plan not to intervene traffic operations. The flights that will fly and arrive at PIA will be the same whether there is construction or not.”

“We expect the process will take about 10 months to be completed so by around the end of September next year. The construction budget is derived solely from Phuket Airport revenues. The construction costs for the work is approximately 330 million baht.”

He added, “When the project is completed we are quite sure that passengers will benefit massively. The tourists who travel in groups will be handled separately from normal passengers, so both type of passengers will have more space and congestion will be reduced.”

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