Airports authority wants Suvarnabhumi in world's top 50
published : 19 Jan 2024 at 13:11
writer: Gary Boyle
ORIGINAL SOURCE/WRITER: Onnucha Hutasingh
Airports of Thailand (AOT) aims to push Suvarnabhumi airport to rank among the world's 50 best airports within the next two years.
Speaking on Thursday, the new chairman of its board of directors Pol Gen Visanu Prasattongosoth said that AOT has a policy to upgrade and expand six airports under its supervision to respond to the resurgence of air travel worldwide after the Covid-19 pandemic.
They are Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Hat Yai and Mae Fah Luang airports.
The plan is to increase airport personnel and facilities as well as expand the airports' capacity to handle more foreign arrivals, he said.
AOT plans to make Thailand a regional air travel hub and bring Suvarnabhumi airport into the world's top 50, he added.
It ranked 68th in the Skytrax World Airport Awards last year and 77th in 2022.
He said that urgent plans for this year include improving physical spaces and airport facility management systems at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang, as well as upgrading the former to meet international standards this year.
Between October 2022 and this September, over 100 million passengers passed through the six airports. Of them, 48.37 million did so at Suvarnabhumi airport.
Pol Gen Visanu said AOT will speed up work on the 42-billion-baht North Expansion project, which will operate as a domestic terminal, separate from the main terminal.
Vocabulary
- capacity: the ability to do a particular thing - ความสามารถ,สมรรถภาพ
- domestic: inside the country being talked about - ภายในประเทศ
- expand: to make or become larger - ขยาย
- hub: the central and most important part of a particular place or activity - จุดศูนย์กลาง, จุดรวม
- personnel: the people who are employed in a company, organization or one of the armed forces - บุคลากร, เจ้าหน้าที่, พนักงาน
- rank: to put someone or something into a position according to their success, importance, size etc - จัดลำดับ
- resurgence: a new increase of activity or interest in a particular subject or idea which had been forgotten for some time - การฟื้นคืน, การกลับสู่สภาพ
- supervision: the process of making sure that something is being done properly - การควบคุมดูแล การตรวจตรา
- terminal: a large building at an airport where passengers arrive and leave - อาคารผู้โดยสาร
- upgrade: to make a project, a piece of machinery, computer system, etc. more powerful and efficient - ยกระดับ
