Temporary Terminal Planned For HKT

Aug. 6, 2013
Terminal, to be built in 120 days, will have the capacity to handle 3 million passengers a year.

Aug. 06--The overcrowded Phuket airport will get some quick relief by the end of the year with a temporary new passenger terminal.

The board of Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) last week endorsed a 145-million-baht maximum budget for building the facility, designed to render much-needed capacity before the airport's main expansion, costing 5.8 billion baht, is completed in mid-2015.

The approval came as the AoT board also asked management to conduct a feasibility study for a second runway at Phuket to meet future demand growth once the current expansion is finished, according to AoT executives.

Unique Engineering and Construction Plc was given a preliminary mandate from the board to build the temporary terminal, a single-storey building with usable floor space of 1,400 square metres, subject to price negotiations.

The temporary terminal, to be built in 120 days on four rai currently used as a football pitch, will have the capacity to handle 3 million passengers a year when completed in December.

It will be a glass-and-steel structure designed in harmony with the terminal featured in the main expansion.

Because it will be located away from the existing terminal, the temporary facility, equipped with 10 check-in counters, will be used for passengers on international charter flights, to then be transferred by bus to the main terminal for security and immigration formalities.

The temporary terminal will provide incremental capacity more immediately at Phuket airport, whose traffic volume is expected to reach 10.5 million this year, well beyond the 6.5 million the present terminal offers.

The ongoing main expansion will increase Phuket's annual passenger handling to 12.5 million.

The new multi-storey terminal, able to handle 5 million passengers a year, will be for international travellers.

The present terminal will be used solely for domestic passengers once its upgrade is done in mid-2015, giving it a yearly capacity of 7.5 million passengers.

But by the time Phuket's main expansion is completed, the incremental capacity will be absorbed by the growing traffic, which is projected to grow to 12 million in 2015 if not more, according to AoT executives.

Meanwhile, AoT management has orders to assess the possibility of building a second runway at Phuket by acquiring adjoining land now occupied by state bodies like the Royal Thai Navy.

The board is to consider an initial plan for the second runway at its next meeting on Aug 28.

Pratuang Sonkham, general manager of Phuket airport, earlier said a second runway would be needed in 10-15 years, as well as capacity to handle an additional 10 million passengers a year.

Copyright 2013 - Bangkok Post, Thailand