Don Mueang aims for 27m passengers
Airports of Thailand expects 27.5 million passengers to use Don Mueang Airport by 2016 after it reopens Terminal 2.
- Published: 7/03/2013 at 05:35 PM
- Newspaper section: topstories
Thai and foreign passengers check in at Don Mueang airport. (Photo by Thiti Wannamontha)
Don Mueang general manager Paranee Vatanotai said on Thursday that the improvements to Terminal 2 will benefit the airport through servicing more passengers entering and leaving Bangkok.
The terminal will be refurbished this year with work expected to be complete in 2016. Don Mueang uses Terminal 1 for its present operation for low-cost airlines for domestic and international routes.
Nok Air, Thai AirAsia, AirAsia, Indonesia AirAsia and One-Two-Go Orient Thai are among the no-frills airlines using Don Mueang after moving their operations from Suvarnabhumi. Siam GA is the only full-service airline flying in and out of the airport.
The airport is 99 years old on Friday and already is the oldest airport in Thailand.
It handled 6 million passengers in the first five months of its fiscal year starting October 2012 and AoT is confident that 10 million more will be added over the next nine months.
The role of Don Mueang was relegated to a secondary airport for the capital after the opening of Suvarnabhumi Airport in 2006. It was shut down but later reopened to ease traffic and passenger congestion at the new airport.
The government set Don Mueang to provide services for no-frills airlines to serve local and regional destinations.
Mrs Paranee said the combination of the two airports will enable Thailand to handle 87.5 million air travellers a year in 2016.
The plan is to underline the country as the commercial aviation hub of the region.
Photo by Boonsong Kositchotethana
About the author
- Writer: Amornrat Mahitthirook
- Position: Reporter