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Phuket Airport Terminal X on target to open in February
Phuket Gazette -

PHUKET: The new terminal at Phuket International Airport is on track to open on February 5, boosting the capacity of the island’s critical tourism portal by 4,000 people per hour.

Phuket Governor Maitri Inthusut announced the news yesterday during an inspection of the new facility, currently called “Terminal X”.

“The actual construction of the terminal is finished. There is only cleaning up and interior decoration to be done. The grand opening ceremony will be on February 1,” he said.

Terminal X will serve as a passenger and baggage check-in facility for departing international charter flights.

“Nearly one third of all international passengers arrive and depart on international charter flights,” explained Kiettichai Wongmonta, head of the Engineering Maintenance Division at the Airports of Thailand (AoT) Phuket office.

“As no planes will dock at Terminal X, all tourists entering or leaving the country must clear immigration and customs at the old terminal.”

A free shuttle bus will be provided to take tourists from Terminal X to the existing terminal, he added.

As part of the larger 5.8-billion-baht airport expansion project, a new international terminal, complete with its own immigration and customs clearance counters, is under construction.

“Once complete, this will be dedicated to serving international passengers only and the existing main terminal will be refurbished and used for domestic passengers,” Mr Kiettichai explained.

As with the current terminal, Terminal X will also have free WiFi.

“We are still ironing out a few technical issues with the free WiFi in the old terminal, but once that is done we will make sure the new terminal also has free WiFi for passengers and visitors,” Mr Kiettichai said.

Among the other major projects underway as part of the expansion project is a five-story car park, which is expected to provide much-needed relief for motorists who currently must use the overburdened parking lot in front of the old terminal.

“The new car park will be able to accommodate 1,500 vehicles when it opens in March,” Mr Kiettichai said.

It is not yet decided whether taxis or other transport vehicles will be allowed to use the facility.

“The airport expansion project is making good progress and is on time for completion by the May 3, 2015 deadline,” Mr Kiettichai confirmed.

“We expect five more aircraft bays to be finished in time for the upcoming Songkran Festival in April,” he noted.

“Additionally, work is underway on a new office building and a new cargo building. The expansion project also includes new equipment that will make it much easier for us to handle the increasing number of people using the airport.”

Source: http://www.phuketgazette.net/phuket_news/2014/Phuket-Airport-Terminal-X-on-target-to-open-in-February-23299.html

-- Phuket Gazette 2014-01-16

[simon43]

...boosting the capacity of the island’s critical tourism portal by 4,000 people per hour.

Sure?

“As no planes will dock at Terminal X, all tourists entering or leaving the country must clear immigration and customs at the old terminal.

[deecee10]

Are all these '4,000 people per hour' going to be transported by shuttle bus from Terminal 'X'?

Sounds like something from the "X' Files.

[xylophone]

...boosting the capacity of the island’s critical tourism portal by 4,000 people per hour.

Sure?

“As no planes will dock at Terminal X, all tourists entering or leaving the country must clear immigration and customs at the old terminal.

Hmmm.......I'm also perplexed by these statements and all I can work out is that you check in at Terminal X and then get on a bus to the original terminal for customs and immigration.

So passengers have the inconvenience of checking in at one terminal, and having to get on transport to the original terminal so that they can join the bottleneck there??

[steelepulse]

Any particular reason why the terminal was built with no allowance made for customs clearance and immigration?

[LivinginKata]

Any particular reason why the terminal was built with no allowance made for customs clearance and immigration?

That would require some forward thinking.

[Valentine]

All taxis, limos, mini vans, rental cars should not be allowed to park in either car park, only come in to pick up & drop off passengers. They could all park outside & be called in when needed. If this had been enforced they probably would not need a new car park just yet & the fact they are even considering letting them use the new facility shows a clear lack of planning.

[simon43]

I'm also perplexed by these statements and all I can work out is that you check in at Terminal X and then get on a bus to the original terminal for customs and immigration.

X Terminal has been built on the old airport football field. It is bounded on sides by the road to the beach/national park, the access road to the cargo building, adjacent staff accommodation and the airport radio masts.

There is no direct access for planes. Customers will check in at the terminal, then board a bus to go to the customs/immigration, and vice-versa for arriving passengers.

Since this is a charter/tour terminal, there will be many coaches parked on the beach access road, (since there seems to be no new parking provided by that terminal). I can imagine that road will be noisy all night, (which is why I am very happy that I sold my airport hotel on that road some years ago....!)

There really seems to be a lack of planning here. A nice new terminal with no customs/immigration, no plane access, no parking nearby....

Still, it all looks very nice and is a wonderful photo opportunity for government and airport officials.

Simon

[EBlair48]

Any particular reason why the terminal was built with no allowance made for customs clearance and immigration?

That would require some forward thinking.

( I know this is OT but to elaborate on your comment ) Having never had to plan and store food for cold winters, tropical people across the globe simply do no not have the capacity for this kind of thinking. Lots of Malay influence in Thailand's gene pool, It explains why Chinese- Thais are so successful - their heritage includes cold weather survival planning.

[Puccini]

As with the current terminal, Terminal X will also have free WiFi.

What designation, if any, does the current terminal have? If it hasn't got a label yet what will it be called? Terminal Y?

[bangon04]

Who decided the grand opening would be February?

Surely a major project such as this can only be officially opened on December 5th or August 12th, or possibly July 28th.

Maybe they mean soft opening, not grand opening.

[simon43]

What designation, if any, does the current terminal have?

The current terminal consists of Terminal 1 and Terminal 2. This new charter/tour terminal is called Terminal X

Simon

[bobfish]

Recently: first off 'my' plane and then spent almost 2 hrs [about 1hr55min] in the immigration queue behind a couple of charter flights. I can hardly wait for the "capacity" increase .

Handling boosted by 4000/hr; I'm calling BS on that!

[eezergood]

Opening Feb - Yes

Finished Feb - NO

Opened nonetheless, face saved, graft collected

Now, onto that hovercraft terminal

[LivinginKata]

<snip>

Now, onto that hovercraft terminal

Yes, right - money not even approved, and never will be in MHO

[eezergood]

<snip>

Now, onto that hovercraft terminal

Yes, right - money not even approved, and never will be in MHO

Should we put things in bold to highlight sarcassm?

[simon43]

Should we put things in bold to highlight sarcassm?

You can use the 'sarcmark' that I mentioned in a recent post in the General forum.

Last night between about 0300 - 0500, the delay from landing to clearing immigration was about 90 minutes

Simon

[eezergood]

Should we put things in bold to highlight sarcassm?

You can use the 'sarcmark' that I mentioned in a recent post in the General forum.

sarcmark1.jpg

Last night between about 0300 - 0500, the delay from landing to clearing immigration was about 90 minutes

Simon

Thanks Simon, although I did use Hovercraft as I thought it so ridiculous that the point would have made itself...... then again TIT

[xylophone]

Ok, in amongst the comments and "sarcasm", a genuine question.............I am flying out of Phuket to Oz on the 7th of Feb, so will things be as they always were for this journey. i.e. check in as before etc?

Thanks.

[eezergood]

Mate, my mates just told me the place was packed last night & this morning - they did a visa run.....

[steelepulse]

From the OP "PHUKET: The new terminal at Phuket International Airport is on track to open on February 5, boosting the capacity of the island’s critical tourism portal by 4,000 people per hour."

With today being the 5th, is this new terminal X open, or not? Wouldn't there be some big fancy hoopla with the governor and such attending for photo ops?