New airports approved for Phuket and Chiang Mai

[misskit]

After four years of false starts and rumours it looks like Phuket will now get a much-needed second airport to feed the island and the surrounding region. Yesterday’s announcement by AoT (Airports of Thailand) comes after extensive studies to examine the extension of the current Phuket airport runway which is hemmed in by Thepkasattri Road at one end and the Andaman Sea at the other.


The newly announced airport won’t actually be on the island. It will be in Phang Nga, north of Phuket. Bangkok Airways has been discussing the proposal with the Government of a privately run airport for Phang Nga. Bangkok Airways operate the privately owned airport on Koh Samui. It appears that the Government will build and manage the new airport through the AoT.


The AoT board of directors have approved the construction of second airports for Phuket and Chiang Mai with a combined budget of 120 billion baht.


Each new airport is budgeted at 60 billion baht, said AOT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, with construction beginning in 2019 and completed no later than 2025.


The second Phuket International Airport would be built in Phang Nga’s Ban Khok Kruad district. The second Chiang Mai International Airport would be built in Lamphun’s Ban Thi district.


The new airports would be about 20 to 30 kilometres distant from the first airports, Nitinai added.

https://thethaiger.com/news/new-airp...and-chiang-mai

[harrybarracuda]

I wonder who is going to be trousering the cash off that one.

It would seem Krabi is now a better destination than Phuket, and an airport 30km from Chiang Mai makes it a far less attractive destination.

[HuangLao]

I wonder who is going to be trousering the cash off that one.

The next coup clan....

[david44]

A rush on extra large envelopes forecast.

Perhaps they'll flog off the dodgy swampy runway in plastic bags with elastic twists, Blingpower you know you wanna.

A spokesmoneylaundrerer who asked not to be shamed , we are not Soi Led cowboys described it as a

[cyrille]

an airport 30km from Chiang Mai makes it...

...certain someone is appeasing the song thaew thugs.

[PAG]

Indeed, many brown envelopes being dispensed with this one. On a local level, my take is that whilst Phuket airport is indeed busy, who is going to opt to fly to Phang Nga other than packaged tourists to face an even longer bus journey to get to their eventual destination. Probably need to differentiate the Phuket resorts with Khao Lak to split the target population. Even then........

[harrybarracuda]

...certain someone is appeasing the song thaew thugs.

Songthaews are a rare sight at Chiang Mai airport.

Now the taxi mafia who are stopping the Chiang Mai buses picking up at the airport are another matter.

I'm guessing they'll be charging Phuket prices to get from the airport to the city (that's current Phuket prices, because the fucking bandits down there must be licking their fucking lips in anticipation of how much they will be able to rip off tourists from Phang Nga to Patong, let alone Kata et al).

[HuangLao]

Songthaews are a rare sight at Chiang Mai airport.

Now the taxi mafia who are stopping the Chiang Mai buses picking up at the airport are another matter.

I'm guessing they'll be charging Phuket prices to get from the airport to the city (that's current Phuket prices, because the fucking bandits down there must be licking their fucking lips in anticipation of how much they will be able to rip off tourists from Phang Nga to Patong, let alone Kata et al).

Sounds as if your looking forward to your next [very] brief holiday, Harry....
Farang lub Thailand - even when they haven't a clue nor connected.

[cyrille]

Songthaews are a rare sight at Chiang Mai airport.

That's my point.

I bet you they'll be back in Ban Thi.

It's sufficiently far away for people to baulk at paying for taxis.

Especially at this time of year when the bulk of tourists are Western students on term break.

30km will force a lot of people to take improvised transport services...and with classic Thai irony this is a few months after they introduced a bus service into town from the current airport.

[harrybarracuda]

Sounds as if your looking forward to your next [very] brief holiday, Harry....
Farang lub Thailand - even when they haven't a clue nor connected.

That's fucking funny Jeff considering you've never even been there.

[harrybarracuda]

That's my point.

I bet you they'll be back in Ban Thi.

It's sufficiently far away for people to baulk at paying for taxis.

Especially at this time of year when the bulk of tourists are Western students on term break.

30km will force a lot of people to take improvised transport services...and with classic Thai irony this is a few months after they introduced a bus service into town from the current airport.

I'm pretty sure some fucker's got their eyes on the road improvements.

And let's face it, as soon as they allocate a budget 90% of it will be offshore, so the fucking things will probably take as long as Swampy.



Just for Jeff, so he doesn't have to google it and pretend he knows what he's talking about:

The land for Swampy was purchased in 1973 and the airport opened in 2006.

[harrybarracuda]

120 BILLION Baht ($3.7 Billion). Nice round number.

My, there's room for a skim or two there eh?

There’s been mainly positive response to the news that the AoT have approved the construction of two new airports – one in Phuket and one in Chiang Mai.


The Director of the Thai tourism department says the decision is an important part of the support needed for ever-growing tourist arrivals. Yuthasak Supasorn, says it is a good sign for the industry, which is a significant source of income to the country.

“It would help ease the congestion in both places. Especially for Chiang Mai airport, which doesn’t operate at all hours, the expansion will be of great help.”

Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, president of Airports of Thailand announced the approval of 120 billion baht to build the new airports over the next five years and expects them to be operating by 2025. 60 billion is being allocated to each airport. Both airports will have capacity for 10 million passengers annually.

Last year Phuket International Airport welcomed 16.2 million passengers whilst 9.9 million passengers passed through Chiang Mai’s airport, according to AOT.

The new airport servicing Chiang Mai is planned to be in Lamphun province while the new airport for Phuket won’t be on the island but just north in Phang Nga province. Both new airports are approximately 30 kilometres from the current airports.

Phuket’s current airport is still undergoing a three year upgrade including a new international terminal and a redevelopment of the old airport into a stand-alone domestic terminal. The upgrades of the domestic terminal have caused significant disruption and inconvenience for passengers – air-conditioning hasn’t been working in the domestic terminal for almost six months. There have also been important repairs to the runway surface which necessitate the closure of the runway and disruption of flights.

https://thethaiger.com/news/new-airp...ase-congestion