The expansion of the international airport in Phuket

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The expansion of the international airport in Phuket has recently been discussed at a meeting which was held in Thailand last week. The meeting was chaired by Tuyaratt Achariyachai who is the head of the Standing Committee on Tourism. At the meeting many things about the airport were discussed including taxi services, car parking and rest room facilities, as well as general safety issues that might affect the airport.

At the meeting it was announced that the international terminal of the airport should be completed by 2014 and the domestic terminal is going to be finished a year later. It is expected that the expanded airport will be able to handle nearly 13,000,000 passengers every year and it is expected to cost nearly six billion baht.

The chairwoman of the meeting stated, “The number of passengers who have been coming to the airport every year has increased significantly, last year we saw about 20,000 passengers passed through the airport every day and this year the figure is already at over 30,000 a day.

I’m hoping that we can expand the number of immigration counters available so that we can handle this increased passenger load. We want to make sure the tourists do not experience any delays when they arrive in Thailand.”

Thai Hotels Association advisor, Methee Tanmanatragul, stated that the current way the taxi system works at the airport needs to be changed. He says there needs to be a system where taxis can queue and drivers have to pay a small fee to do so.

Anurak Tansiriroj, Consul of the Czech Republic stated, “Taxi drivers are having to charge a large amount because of the commission they have to pay to pick up tourists. They’re also very competitive and this has caused problems such as taxi drivers physically grabbing people.”