Airport bosses at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi plan to boost passenger capacity to 80 million by 2031.
Kerati Kijmanawat, president of Airports of Thailand, says facilities at the capital’s main airport will be upgraded to increase capacity and be ranked in the top 20 airports in the world within 5 years.
Plans are underway to build a new 120-billion-baht passenger terminal (the airport’s third) on the southern side of the airport, with a fourth runway being constructed at an estimated cost of 20 billion baht.
“Once both projects have been completed, the airport will be able to accommodate 80 million passengers a year”.
AoT is reviewing a Suvarnabhumi “master plan”, which is expected to be complete by February, when it will be submitted to the Transport Ministry. From there, it goes to Cabinet for budget approval, which is expected to take another 3 months.
According to a Bangkok Post report, bidding for the construction contracts is likely to begin in early 2027. Kerati says building of the South Terminal is expected to take four and a half years, while the fourth runway will take around 4 years.
The South Terminal is expected to open by late 2031, with the runway expected to open a year earlier.
Airports of Thailand says the development of Suvarnabhumi is needed due to the current overcrowding in the main terminal and the pick-up and drop-off areas. Additional space 2 kilometres in length will be added to the existing pick-up and drop-off area once construction of the South Terminal is complete.
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
