Air Transport

Airports of Thailand (AOT) has decided to proceed with the much anticipated expansion of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport although it still needs the approval of the country's transport ministry.

The AoT board met on 22 August and agreed to proceed with the expansion which has a budget of 77 billion baht ($2.25 billion), says an AoT spokesman in Bangkok, adding that the next step is to get transport ministry approval.

This is likely to be forthcoming because several of the AoT board members are from that ministry, says the spokesman.

The plan is for construction to commence next year, he says,

The expansion involves six major projects including construction of a third runway, an extension to the main terminal building and construction of a new satellite terminal building with 28 gates and an apron area with 28 aircraft stands, says the spokesman.

The expansion is expected to increase annual capacity to 60 million passengers from 45 million, he says.

Suvarnabhumi Airport opened in September 2006 and is the city's main international airport.

But it is reportedly nearing capacity and even when it opened a couple of years ago there were reports it would soon need to be expanded to meet rising passenger traffic.