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18.05.09 Phuket Airport to get VIP terminal for private jets
Source: Phuketgazette
Phuket International Airport.
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MAI
KHAO, PHUKET: The new director of Phuket International Airport has
confirmed a plan to establish a new terminal for private jets to
accommodate “VIP” passengers.
Pratuang Sornkham officially took
over as head of Phuket International Airport on May 12, then flew back
to Airports of Thailand (AOT) headquarters in Bangkok to receive orders
on a wide range of development plans for the airfield, the busiest in
Thailand after Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.
Mr Pratuang’s arrival in Phuket was marked with a “Nice to Meet You” dinner at the Royal Phuket City hotel on May 12.
He
said he will continue all of the policies of his predecessor, Wicha
Nernlop, who will take up a new position at AOT headquarters in the
capital.
In February this year, AOT announced it would invest 5
billion baht in the expansion of the airport in order to bring its
capacity up to 11.5 million passengers by the year 2016 – an increase
of 77% over current capacity.
Mr Pratuang confirmed a report in an aviation industry newsletter that
Hong Kong-based ASA Group has been granted permission by AOT to develop
Thailand’s first VIP terminal for private jets at the airport.
“We
handle so many private flights into Bangkok and Phuket, so the time is
right to cater for our growing client base of VIP visitors who have
nowhere in the airport to go once they disembark,” the report quoted
ASA representative Simon Wagstaff as saying at the May 14-16 European
Business Aviation Convention in Geneva, Switzerland .
Services
offered will include aircraft handling, charters, security, in-flight
catering and over-flight and landing clearances, it was reported.
Mr
Pratuang said the project is appropriate for the airport due to the
growing number of businessmen and VIPs flying in to Phuket aboard
private jets, but he admitted he knew little about the details and
would need to study the project plan.
The new post is a big step
up for Mr Pratuang, who spent the last five years as director of Chiang
Rai Airport, which only had 5,419 flight movements in 2008 compared to
37,991 in Phuket.
His first task is to repair or replace two
escalators inside the main terminal that have been out of order for
nearly a year, he said.
He will also prioritize moving the
wreckage of One-Two-Go Flight 269, which is still sitting in a field at
the end of the runway.
“This ruins an otherwise beautiful sea view and brings back to memory the tragic accident that happened here in 2007,” he said.
Mr
Pratuang said he has already been ordered by Transport Minister Sopon
Zarum to improve links between the airport and Phuket City, which are a
constant source of complaints from tourists.
“I have been
ordered to rectify the situation quickly, so I will meet with airport
officials and the Phuket governor in order to find a way out of the
problem,” he said.
“I will organize the limousine taxis and illegal taxi operations and get them back on track,” he said optimistically.
Aggressive
touting for passengers by drivers and other people working the various
transport groups at the airport has to stop, he said.
“Phuket
Airport has a clear policy that the taxi people must stay in their
ticketing booths. We will no longer allow them to go outside their
booths and accost people. This is something I plan to monitor very
closely,” he said.
Also in the works is a plan to increase by 400 the number of parking spaces for passengers’ cars, he said.
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