Shops in Phuket International Airport are being moved out to make way for more immigration officers, as the airport is bracing for a deluge of passengers. whose numbers currently exceed 10 million per year.
Airport director Pratuang Sornkham said yesterday that construction on a temporary terminal would be completed in January to accommodate chartered • flights and private j'ets. These are temporary measures before the expansion project will be completed late next year. boosting annual capacity from 6.5 million to 12.5 million passengers.
Passengers have risen from 20,000 a day last year to 30,000 on 200 flights a day, compared to 150 a year earlier. Arrivals are expected to increase 10 per cent.
China tops the foreign-visitors list, 1 Russia. Pratuang added.
