The Never-Ending Loop of AOT’s Terminal 2

The construction of Terminal 2 at Suvarnabhumi Airport seems like a never-ending story that drags on and on with no finishing line in sight. The finishing line in this article does not mean the completion of Terminal 2 construction, it means the proposal to start the construction.

 

Every step AOT takes to proceed with the proposal, there seems to be disputes going on regarding the construction worth 42 billion baht of Terminal 2, which was later renamed to the North Expansion, resulting in disapproval of the proposal.

 

In 2019, the proposal was held off as the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) indicates that AOT should follow the Airport Development Master Plan Year 2003 instead of processing the North Expansion, which is not listed in the Master Plan.

 

In 2020, the opposition on constructing the North Expansion occurred as the NESDC ordered AOT to make a survey to see which expansions users would want, starting with the East Expansion, the West Expansion and the North Expansion.

 

In 2021, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) proposed to the Thai cabinet meeting, stating that 1) the North Expansion plan has yet to be approved by the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), 2) the North Expansion could cause congestion within the terminal as passengers need to use automated people mover (APM) to travel between Building 3 and 4, 3) the entrance and exit of the North Expansion only located on one side of the highway could cause congestion as well.

Meanwhile, the NACC suggested AOT to consider the construction of the East and the West Expansion first, according to the Master Plan Year 2003, then to resubmit the proposal of the North Expansion afterward.

 

Mr. Nitinai Sirismatthakarn, President of Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AOT), once made a statement through the broadcast of “Kaohoon Live” on Facebook, and YouTube, stating that the purpose of constructing Terminal 2 is to reduce congestion in the only one existing terminal while forecasting that the number of passengers in 2019 will reach 70 million people, which is above Suvarnabhumi Airport’s 45 million people capacity.

The President also asserted that the number of passengers in the airside, the area beyond security or passport control, has not reached its capacity, but the landside, the area accessible to the general public, including those not traveling, is maxed out.

 

After the NACC’s comment in the cabinet meeting, Mr. Saksayam Chidchob, Transportation Minister, stated that it will continue the plan of constructing three expansions simultaneously. Currently, AOT is revisiting International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and International Air Transport Association (IATA) for further comments. The process should take one month before proposing to the Transportation Ministry to consider and propose to the cabinet afterward.

 

To summarize, the North Expansion proposal has yet to be approved.