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The airport’s new south terminal, shown here in rendering, would handle around 70 million passengers.
When Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK) opened in 2006, it was a state-of-the-art facility designed to handle 45 million passengers annually. Almost 19 years later and having grown passenger volumes to 60 million, infrastructure improvements have been slow to keep up with demand.
Kerati Kijmanawat, a veteran in civil engineering and public infrastructure, joined airport operator Airports of Thailand (AOT) as SEVP engineering and construction in 2019 before rising to AOT president in November 2023.
“When I first came into AOT, my observation was that we had to look at how to apply engineering processes to airport development,” he said.
Kerati noted that AOT has always lagged in implementing improvement and expansion projects compared with Singapore Changi Airport (SIN), which he describes as “dynamic and constantly improving.”
“The first thing I want to drive home at AOT is how to use the benefits that people want to come to Thailand,” Kerati said. “We first focus on that strong point and then build an organization that takes care of demand and which makes a whole lot of business sense at the same time.”
After years of working with numerous stakeholders with different agendas, AOT has received a revised mandate to put new airport infrastructure projects into high gear. Former Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin paid significant attention to the development of the country’s aviation sector, and, despite a sudden change in administration in August 2024, the current government under Paetongtarn Shinawatra has maintained those long-term goals.
“I think it is a great time to build the new terminal projects that we have aligned with the policies of the ruling government. And the drive is there to push tourism to be first on the Thailand agenda. When we said we wanted to expand our airport, no one said ‘wait’ or ‘no’,” Kerati said.
Kerati is taking a different approach towards project management, which focuses on planning ahead of demand and seeking contractors that have the capacity, ability and quality to handle AOT’s requirements, even if they are not the lowest bidder. For example, AOT terminated its contract with a construction firm after it was fined numerous times because it failed to complete a car park complex at BKK on schedule.
“Project management is very important because airport infrastructure takes time after you bring them into your vision, with many elements such as financing, construction, supervision and planning to take into account,” Kerati said.
A pain point at BKK was the insufficient capacity to handle passengers on the terminal’s land side, which resulted in chokepoints at check-in counters, security screening and immigration gates. During the COVID pandemic, AOT installed 80 automated departure gates and new CT security scanners to flow passengers more quickly to the air side. More automated gates are planned for the arrivals’ immigration area.
AOT noticed Asian passengers tend to arrive at the airport hours ahead of their flight times and wait in the departure halls for the manual check-in counters to open. By April, Kerati hopes BKK will start a 24-hour check-in initiative that leverages the space of an unused 4,000 bag capacity storage area and mitigates crowding. This would also smooth out peaks in the departure area.
Meanwhile, a new THB10 billion ($300 million) east expansion project is being planned to add 80,000 sq. meters to the land side, increasing available space by up to 20%. This essentially resurrects a project that was put on hold for 12 years, but AOT expects to start the bidding process in May with the aim of completing the project within three years from launch.
Another project under review is a master plan that, if approved, would see construction begin on a THB140 billion project from around mid-2027. The main aim here is to build a larger southern terminal capable of handling 70 million passengers annually and featuring shops and hotels. It would also be more efficient and less expensive to operate than the current Satellite 1.
Kerati believes airlines and passengers should not pay for large airport projects because, with the right financing tools, these can pay for themselves within 12 years: “Once airlines pay, they ask for a lot in terms of management. For example, an airline that pays for a new terminal might demand exclusive rights. I’m not saying that’s a bad idea, but it doesn’t make sense for us and it’s something that has to be worked out before the plan is made.”
To further ease the strain on BKK while these projects progress, a third terminal will be built at Bangkok Don Mueang Airport (DMK), where its 40-year-old Terminal 1 will be torn down and redeveloped. DMK’s Terminals 1 and 2 will serve domestic traffic, while the new THB4 billion Terminal 3 will handle international traffic.
There is also a push to drive more traffic to four key peripheral airports at Phuket, Hat Yai, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Phuket and Chiang Mai are land-constrained, so studies are underway to build new airports at each of those cities. A new Phuket airport, dubbed Andaman and planned to be completed within seven years of feasibility studies concluding, would serve the area around Phuket and Krabi. The new Chiang Mai project would have a similar timeline.
“I think our mission is to get our airports ready for any new development in the aircraft industry,” Kerati said. “Before, we were saying that we had to be able to handle the [Airbus] A380 at all six airports. And we have done that. Now, we are looking at how to put in new technology to turn aircraft around quicker and make the most of our infrastructure.”
Kerati wants to make Thailand more than a destination; he’d like to see it become an international hub. Only 4% of BKK’s 65 million passengers transit through the airport, so there is ample room for growth. He believes that the airport and Thai Airways should work on an aligned policy for his hub vision and hopes the airline will extend its number of codeshares and alliances so that more people travel to and transit through BKK.
“We already have 60 million passengers in our pocket; how can we tap into more? With more flights we could grow to 80 or 90 million. It’s a symbiotic relationship.” Kerati said.
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