Phuket Airport on expansion mode

 The airport celebrated the 20th anniversary yesterday.

 In the 2008 fiscal year, it accommodated 40,218 fights, up 4.8 per cent from the previous year. The number of passengers rose 8.4 per cent to 5.94 million. In September alone, the number of flights and passengers dropped 21 per cent on year due to the airport closure during August 29-31, according to Vicha Nernlop, general manager of the airport.

 He noted that due to the incident, the airport is restoring its image through the Je food festival and more campaigns would continue until December. He also expected that a big party would be thrown in December, when the airport welcomed the 6th million passenger for the 2008 year.

 During October 2008 and March 2009, 34 airlines have approached the airport for landing: 21 are those which operate scheduled flights, 13 chartered flight carriers, and