The cabinet on Tuesday approved the take over by Airports of Thailand (AOT) of Udon Thani, Buri Ram and Krabi airports from the Department of Airports, and the 9-billion-baht expenditure to develop them.
Deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said Udon Thani airport would become the gateway of the upper Northeast to meet the demand of travellers heading to the region.
Udon Thani airport would be a regional airport and be linked with Buri Ram airport, which would be developed as the gateway to the lower Northeast to promote both tourism and sports, she said.
Krabi airport would be develoed to relieve congestion at Phuket airport and support tourism because it stood in the middle, between provinces fronting the Andaman Sea and those adjacent to the Gulf of Thailand, Ms Traisuree said.
AOT would spend 9.19 billion baht on developing the three provincial airports - 3.52 billion baht for Udon Thani airport, 460 million baht for Buri Ram airport and 5.22 billion baht for Krabi airport.
Ms Traisuree said the government expected aviation would fully recover from the effects of Covid-19 by 2024.