Krabi Airport plans further expansion

More good news for Krabi:

Krabi Airport is planning another phase of expansion that will include renovation of the old passenger building into a domestic terminal and addition of two more parking bays (aprons). Works are slated to start early next year and will take two years to complete.

The airport's old passenger building, being used currently by Thai Airways International as its catering facility, will be renovated with 250-million baht (US$7.40 million) and will have one contact gate and a walk-way bridge connecting with the current new terminal.

It will also spend another 180 million baht developing two more parking bays, from the existing two which can hold large aircraft such as Boeing747 and Boeing737 jets.

Despite the airport being completely expanded in 2006 with a new terminal and longer runway, airport director, Mr Atthaya Lapmakm, said it was facing congestion problems especially during the high tourist seasons - from November to March.

Last year, the airport handled 893,338 passengers. Mr Atthaya said the airport expected to see a slight increase on the number of passengers for this year as some low-cost carriers had stop flying through the airport. However, he added charter flights from Northern Europe were expected to increase to 10 flights from four per week.