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Published on December 27, 2007

Airport director Serirat Prasutanond said yesterday that AOT's board believed further development of the airport was in line with the outcome of the election, in that both the People Power Party and the Democrats supported a single airport system. Therefore, in response to a higher demand from passengers, the board approved a feasibility study of phase II of the airport's development.

According to the airport's original master plan, which is now 10 years old, phase II was to involve new terminal buildings and expansion of the airport's concourse to handle up to 65 million passengers per year.

Serirat said the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) was expected to undertake the feasibility study of Suvarnabhum's second phase, beginning in February. The study will include a review of the master plan as well as the use of Don Mueang Airport in parallel to Suvarnabhumi.

"It's expected that the study will take about six months," Serirat said.

He said Don Mueang would continue to be used by low-cost carriers and charter airlines, which would not affect services at Suvarnabhumi. In using both airports, there would be no compulsion for international flights to move to Don Mueang.

"Initially, Suvarnabhumi Airport's phase-II expansion was expected to cost about Bt68 billion," Serirat said, adding that when the ICAO completed its feasibility study, AOT would propose its result to the new transport minister.

A Transport Ministry source said AOT had been trying to increase the number of flights using Don Mueang to relieve pressure from the rising number of passengers at Suvarnabhumi Airport, which has a design capacity of 45 million passengers per year. By doing this, it also hopes to delay the additional investment needed for Suvarnabhumi's phase II.

However, in the knowledge that the two top parties emerging from the election want both a single airport system and to make Suvarnabhumi a regional hub, AOT felt it should prepare expansion plans to present to the new government, the source said.

Watcharapong  Thongrung

The Nation