Mounting Concerns Over Airport Capacity

Posted: 12 Dec 2010 | 6:00 am

Officials at the Phuket International Airport (PIA) are reporting that 35 regularly scheduled airline and charter operators are bringing in direct flights this high season versus 30 for the same period in 2009.

Growing concerns on overcrowding are welcoming the March 2011 commencement for construction of a new international terminal. Also upgrading what will become a retro fit of the existing facility into a domestic building is included in the work along with multi-level parking. Completion is scheduled for 2014.

Some voices are being heard that a Suvarnabhumi scenario could be replayed if sustained growth takes place over the next 3 years and the new expansion will be short lived into redundancy.

As hotels in Khao Lak continue to see new building and direct flights to Phuket often see international bound travelers headed for Krabi and beyond; there is a the likelihood that further development plans will need to lay in waiting for PIA.

For this high season with a high volume of charter flights traveler's comments are again coming in heaps and droves about long lines in immigrations and increasingly tedious waiting periods.

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