CityNews – 25th October 2019, Saksiam Chidchob, Transport Minster visited and handed over a policy to Chiang Mai Airport (CNX) authority, his visit was welcomed by the director of CNX and management team who presented an executive summary of 2019.
According to the summary, the number of passengers’ growth this year was at 4.55%, domestic passenger numbers were down 1% while international passengers grew at 19% compared to that of 2018. The three top arrivals are, Chinese, South Korean and Taiwanese. The Chinese passengers comprise 43.99% of the total international passengers.
Director of CNX also reported on phase 1 of the airport development project’s plan (2018 – 2022) that it was approved by Ministry of Transport and Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council and it is awaiting the environmental impact assessment (EIA) report, which is expected to be completed by October 2020. Then, it will be submitted to the cabinet to approve. It is anticipated that AOT would draft a design and complete the construction within three years. This will consist of certain major works such as expanding passenger areas, improving plane parking spaces from 12 to 31, and greatly increasing car parking capacity. During the waiting period, the CNX airport has a strategy in place for alleviating congestion by adding extra parking to be completed by May of next year and improving both terminals with the aim towards more efficiency.
The transport minister said the ministry is ready to support CNX development, including the building of the second Chiang Mai airport. The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand and AOT have studied and agreed that the area to build this second airport is around the border area between Sankamphaeng District, Chiang Mai and Baan Thi Dirstrict, Lamphun. The minister requests relevant parties to explain the necessity to the people living locally, stressing the tangible benefits in terms of the economy and tourism, and to listen to people’s opinions throughout the process.