Thai Airports Post Positive Growth

23rd Mar 2013

Thailand continues to attract foreign travelers as reflected in its recent data showing passenger traffic during the second month of this year.

The latest available data show aircraft movement for the month grew by 17.28% over the preceding month. During the same period, number of flights also went up to 45,776 from only 39,030 in January. The passenger traffic, on the other hand, made a double digit improvement over the previous month hitting the 7 million mark.

The country's premier airport, Suvarnabhumi, saw a decrease in aircraft movement for the month of February, registering 18,058 from the previous month record of 18,842, down by 4.16%. The domestic aircraft movements suffered a beating as well by almost half, registering only 5,015 compared to January's record of 9,956.

Though international passenger traffic increased by 5.52% over the previous month, its domestic passenger traffic dipped to 775,222 from 1.43 million in January or down 45.63%. The decrease in aircraft movements along with its domestic traffic at Suvarnabhumi was mainly due to the departure of most budget airlines to the older Don Mueang Airport.

As a result, Don Mueang Airport registered a huge increase in both passenger traffic and aircraft movements. Its international aircraft movement skyrocketed to 3,206 in February compared to the previous month's 31 or an increase of a massive 10,242%. The domestic aircraft movement, meanwhile, similarly shot up to 7,958 from January's 503 or a growth of 1,482%.

The old airport, once again, has become an international gateway with the transfer of AirAsia's domestic and international operations from Suvarnabhumi. All but two of Thailand's domestic airlines are now operating from Don Mueang International Airport. The only two remaining airlines that continue using Suvarnabhumi for their domestic operations are THAI and Bangkok Airways.

Another Thai airport that showed strong performance during the period is Chiang Mai International Airport, the country's northern gateway. The airport's international and domestic aircraft movement grew by 49.29% and 11.10% respectively. Its international passenger traffic surged to 73,155 from the previous month's 47,776, a hefty increase of 53%. Its domestic passenger traffic also increased by more than 13% to 402,146 from January's 354,203.

The country's southern gateway, Phuket International Airport, also showed a strong performance in both aircraft movements and passenger traffic, in both domestic and international operations.

The aircraft movements of its international operations increased by 35% up from 2,648 to 3,581while its domestic operations registered an increase of 9.85% or 2,497 from 2,273 for the January's figure.

The international passenger traffic improved by 35% as well, from 473,049 in January to 639,607 for the month of February. On the other hand, the domestic traffic increased by 7.30%, registering a total of 423,664 passengers as opposed to January's figure of 394,825.

Other Thai airports that registered positive growth overall for the month of February are Hat Yai International Airport and Chiang Rai International Airport.

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