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For over 20 years Phuket International Airport has welcomed several million tourists from around the world. In response to growing numbers of visitors, public and private agencies involved with the gateway to the Andaman are planning to upgrade the airport and improve its facilities for passenger comfort.

Phuket International Airport is Thailand’s second largest airport after Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi, both in handling cargo and by welcoming some 6.5 million tourists yearly.

Due to the increasing number of tourists, Phuket’s airport development project is now underway, according to Airports of Thailand (AoT).

Airports of Thailand (AOT) is set to inject 5 billion baht into the expansion of Phuket International Airport to bring its capacity up to 11.5 million passengers by the year 2016 – an increase of 77% over current capacity.

The announcement was made on May 23, 2008 by Deputy Transport Minister Songsak Thongsri, who joined Phuket Vice-Governor Worapoj Rathasima, PIA Director Wicha Nernlop, and other officials from AOT and PIA in a meeting and inspection tour of the airport.

In 2007, Phuket Airport had a total of 38,368 flights, a 32.4% rise from the year 2006, with 5.47 million passengers using the airport, a 22.6% increase over the previous year. The sharp rise is attributed to the growing popularity of low-cost carriers.

Phuket, Aug-13-07 - The Phuket provincial administration Sunday launched a special shuttle van service between the Phuket International Airport and downtown.

Phuket deputy governor Tri Akkaradecha chaired the ceremony to launch the service of Phuket Vehicle Service Cooperative.

Tri said the van service was launched following tourists' complaints that existing bus services were slow and often delayed as bus drivers often stopped on the way to wait for more passengers or to try to sell tourism packages to the tourists.

Manote Chusak, president of the cooperative, said the service started with five vans leaving from the airport to the downtown every hour.