Travel news - destinations in north Thailand

Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) has made headway in its 1.8-billion-baht scheme to turn Chiang Mai airport into a regional aviation hub, but a limit on the length of a runway extension could hinder the bid to become a full fledged airport for unlimited international flight operations.

AoT has awarded a 488.51 million baht contract to Sino-Thai Engineering and Construction Plc to build a new international passenger terminal, one of the key elements in the expansion.

The facility is to have a traditional northern style, with a gae lae roof and complies with safety standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation. The two-storey terminal will allow the airport to handle up to 4.5 million passengers a year, compared with 3.2-3.5 million now.

In other words, the airport will be able to handle up to 1,000 departing passengers per hour and 1,000 arriving, transit and transfer passengers per hour next year, AoT executives said yesterday.

Due for completion next April, the new terminal will be entirely for international passengers, with a total floor space of 15,000 square metres, separated from the existing terminal that is used for both international and domestic passengers.

The existing terminal will be turned into a domestic passenger terminal and its renovation, in the second phase of airport work, is to be complete by 2007. AoT completed the first stage of renovations at the site last December.

AoT wants approval from the environmental board to extend the runway, now 3,100 metres (10,170 feet) by 300 metres (984 feet) northward, as part of an expansion programme to accommodate larger and longer-range jetliners and increase the airport's potential capacity.

In fact, AoT wants to extend the runway by as much as 800 metres (2,625 feet, to a length of 12,800 feet), but this option has little chance of approval from environmental agencies, AoT executives said.

Limiting the runway extension could hinder any attempt to enable large aircraft with full loads of fuel, passengers and cargo to take off and land with ease. The airport can serve Boeing 747 jumbos, which need to reduce loads for takeoff.

Chiang Mai airport now handles 65 to 72 scheduled flights a day by Thai carriers and four foreign airlines.
Bangkok Post 19 July 2005 www.bangkokpost.com