PUBLISHED: 8 Mar 2025 at 05: 15
Airports of Thailand ( AoT ) has plans to expand Suvarnabhumi airport to accommodate 150 million passengers by 2033.
AoT leader Kerati Kijmanawat just revealed the 142 billion ringgit plan to upgrade Thailand’s premier airports and increase it from among the best 30 to a place in the top 10 terminals in the world.
The airport now handles around 65 million people a month.
Many design ideas were laid out, including a 12-billion-baht East Expansion job, which will see customer capacity increased by 15 million per month, bringing the total to 80 million.
The selling process for this project will start in May, with the company expected to get selected by July. Design is scheduled to begin in November, with implementation expected by 2028. The development will improve the airport’s region to 480, 000 sq metres.
AoT may also develop the South Terminal, which will further enhance the airport’s power by another 70 million passengers periodically.
The design and buying process is expected in 2027 before the slated implementation in 2033.
The South Terminal project will need a finances of 130 billion ringgit, and when completed, Suvarnabhumi aircraft will be able to provide up to 150 million people annually.
An earlier plan to build a second satellite terminal ( SAT-2 ) was cancelled as, according to Mr Kerati, the South Terminal would provide the higher capacity instead, doing away with possible future complications including baggage handling and transfer processes that SAT-2 may have prompted.
Ideas for west and north additions have also been scrapped for related reasons.
AoT has acknowledged customers bottlenecks in customer running, especially during the process of check-in, safety monitoring and multiculturalism.
To reduce congestion, the aircraft has installed more self-check-in shops, self-bag cut techniques, e-gates and biometric recognition to speed up the process.
The firm said it had improved immigration running power from 5, 500 passengers per hour to 7, 200 people. AoT has plans to install more check-in and emigration devices in the future.
The number of people at Suvarnabhumi aircraft is expected to reach almost 65 million this season, up from 60 million people last month.