News Analysis
PHUKET'S high season continues to fly, with air passenger numbers up by 14.12 percent in January. But doubts are now emerging about Phuket International Airport's ability to cope with continuing increases in air traffic as construction doubles its overall capacity.
The contractor for the 5.8 billion baht project was supposed to be appointed in December, yet Phuketwan understands there was only one bidder for the tender. The vital but time-consuming process will have to be repeated again until at least three bidders apply.
Unanticipated delays are likely to impede the ability of the airport to cope with constantly increasing air traffic while at the same time, construction of a new air terminal is being carried out.
Telephone calls to the Bangkok head office of Airports of Thailand seeking a comment were not being answered today.
Last month's unexpected sudden transfer of airport General Manager Prathuang Somkhom only served to heighten concerns about progress on the project, by far the most important for Phuket's future.
Phuket International Airport went beyond its theoretical capacity of 6.5 million passengers in 2010 to set new records and eventually to exceed more than seven million comings and goings.
With January figures showing that the consistent upward trajectory is likely to continue or grow even greater, can Phuket's tourism industry be assured that the airport will keep coping with increasing flight and passenger numbers?
That question needs to be answered quickly. Development of Phuket is already geared to outpace the increasing number of visitors, and any hitch in the airport expansion, or an enforced cap on arrivals and departures, would damage the Phuket economy.
Back in August on a visit to Phuket, the President of Airports of Thailand, Serirat Prasutanond, said that the expansion of Phuket airport would be finished by March, 2014. This forecast was based on construction beginning in January 2011.
He also said that while the enlargement was geared to a capacity of 12.5 million passengers, the removal of staff housing at the southern edge of the airport could increase capacity to 15 million.
On the current rate of incline of passenger numbers, that additional work now seems essential.
Also essential now are assurances from the top that the Phuket International Airport can cope with additional flights and passenger numbers at the same time as the new international terminal is being built.
And beyond 2014? With Phuket's popularity soaring, a strategy needs to be in place to lay to rest concerns that once the airport is extended to its current perimeters, there is no capacity to add to air arrivals.
Elsewhere among rivals in the region, Bali's airport is to continue to expand to 17 million by 2020. Yet planning for Phuket's air arrivals appears to go no further at this point than 2014. What next?
Once again, the issue is the need for public discussion now about a strategy for the entire Andaman coast, and particularly for the Phuket-Phang Nga-Krabi axis, where over-popularity and unslowable development are likely to deliver clutter and chaos, with or without a plan.
Is there a strategic guide to avoid the clutter and the chaos, or are the key Andaman provinces doomed to gridlock and shophouses in every direction?
As for tourists, we know that the idea of developing another airport on the site of a World War II landing strip in Phang Nga was shelved.
We know that Ranong airport is too far north and Krabi airport too far west to ease the pressures of property expansion along the Andaman coast. So, what next?
It's time that AoT and the Government produced some answers.
The January figures show how the pressure is growing. International passenger arrivals and departures through Phuket increased 29.61 percent compared to the previous year.
Combined with domestic traffic, which hardly increased at all, that brought a total of 855,797 passengers coming and going through Phuket airport. Our records are not perfect, but we believe this is an all-time record for a single month.
December, for example, saw a total of a mere 731,064. As we said, the trajectory of the air traffic through Phuket is steep, and continuing to ascend. But how high can it go, and how fast?
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What they should really jack up at the airport is the immigration setup. I personally find it unacceptable to wait for nearly two hours just get out the airport building.
Please speed up the process or make a special counter for farangs with Thai Visas and work permits, just to speed us through. Just a matter of time before an elderly passenger keels over from the heat and the exhaustion of the long wait. They should hand out complimentary water for such long queues. I use the word "they", in the context of those in charge of the airport and it's associated services.
Posted by GrahamM on February 7, 2011 12:13