Thailand's tourist boom puts a strain on its airports

BANGKOK (June 28): Thailand’s tourism bounty comes with a big challenge for the head of state-run Airports of Thailand Pcl: expanding passenger capacity in Bangkok by about the size of South Korea’s population.

The company is planning for 90 million passengers annually at the city’s main Suvarnabhumi Airport by 2022 and 40 million at Bangkok’s low-cost hub Don Mueang International Airport, up from the present combined capacity of 75 million, President Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said. The firm operates four other airports, including in tourism hot-spot Phuket.

"We’re about to invest in 10 years about US$6 billion ($8.3 billion) for our six airports," Nitinai said in a June 22 interview in Bangkok. The plan for Suvarnabhumi includes adding a concourse to the existing terminal complex by 2020, a third runway the following year and a new international terminal in 2022, he said.

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