More upgrades at Phuket Airport
Phuket Airport’s domestic terminal will undergo a year-long renovation to ensure it can cope with an increase in domestic traffic to the holiday island.
The airport director, Monrudee Gettuphan, said the airport’s new international terminal was officially opened on 16 September. Now the authority is pressing ahead with a renovation of the former international terminal, that is currently handling domestic flights.
“The renovation is expected to be completed in 330 days with two phases starting 1 November this year,” she explained.
inside no 5The first phase will close the south side of the terminal for renovation from level one to three. It will include improvements to the building structure and utility systems.
The second phase will close the north side of the terminal from level one to three to undergo identical improvements.
In addition to renovating the domestic terminal, the airport will increase security measures and reorganise traffic system in the airport.
The airport’s management faced a barrage of criticism, last week, from local media in Phuket for a failure to process disembarking passengers in a timely fashion. Disembarking passengers complained to the media they were kept waiting at immigration checkpoints for two hours.
Apparently, the international terminal is already operating at almost full capacity, and lacks sufficient immigration checkpoints. However, some media outlets blamed the delays on the immigration bureau for not providing enough officials to clear checkpoint queues.
Phuket airport advises travellers to arrive at the airport at least two hours before a flight’s departure. Faced with the likelihood of delays and long queues arriving three hours ahead of departure would be a safer option.
For the first nine months of the year, the airport registered an increase of 12.98% in international aircraft movements from 32,355 to 36,555, while domestic aircraft movements improved 20.55% from 29,348 to 35,379.
International passenger traffic increased 19.11% from 5,136,310 to 6,117,627, while domestic improved 20.32% from 4,337,211 to 5,218,548.
