Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT) has firmed up a 194 billion baht ($5.5 billion) plan to expand its six airports. The amount will be spent over a period of 15 years. By 2030, the six airports will be equipped to handle 150 million passengers per year, up from the current level of about 71.5 million passengers per year. AOT operates Thailand’s six key airports – Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang in Bangkok, Hat Yai, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Phuket. These handle about 90 per cent of air traffic in the country. Construction work under Phase II at Suvarnabhumi airport is expected to begin in August 2016. It will boost the airport’s capacity to 60 million passengers per year by 2019 and 90 million by 2021 from the current 45 million. Further, the budget for Don Muang airport has been increased to 28.7 billion baht under the new plan from the earlier 7 billion baht.
