PHUKET: Thanks a million! Phuket's millionth passenger for January may still be out there somewhere on Phuket - having fun, we hope, perhaps even riding around in a tuk-tuk and enjoying the nightlife until the Patong bar doors close at 2am sharp.

That's right, for the first time, Phuket International Airport arrivals and departures topped one million in a month - 1,001,351 to be precise. And because the airport officially has a capacity of 6.5 million a year, that's scary.

The number of arrivals and departures to Phuket hit 8.4 million in 2011, which is fairly remarkable. But with six figures being reached in January, what more can be expected in 2012?

Just last week, Airports of Thailand declared that the contract for expanding the airport to a 12.5 million capacity would be signed by June and the whole shebang completed by mid-2015.

But wait. With one million passengers in January and eleven months still to go in 2012, isn't there a vague chance that Phuket could hit 12.5 million this year?

How will that make the forward planners at AoT feel?

We may be exaggerating a tad, but you get the message. Phuket will not really be adequately fitted out to handle one million passengers a month until mid-2015, yet it's happening already.

The hard-working staff at the airport will just have to work harder, and come to think of it, so will the passengers. They already have to struggle at peak times to get in and out of a facility that's bursting at the seams.

Direct flights are increasing the surge in international travellers, with 578,953 from overseas compared to 422,398 domestic flyers. International passengers soared by 26.13 percent compared to January 2011.

Domestic travel increased by just 6.46 percent, providing a 17.01 percent overall lift.

Flights rose by 15.07 percent to 5917 for the month. Cargo nudged up by a mere 2.34 percent.