Phuket Airport statistics showed a record high of 5.7 million passengers for the year 2008, but only half a percent more than 2007.
The Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited, which manages Phuket International Airport, have reported final full year statistics for 2008. They showed a total of 37,991 aircraft movements, down 6.88% from 2007. December alone was 3,282 down 22.23% compared to December 2007. The total numbers of arriving, departing and transit passengers in 2008 was 5,730,748 showing an actual increase of 0.46% compared to the same 12 months in 2007: There were 2,851,403 arrivals which form the base of tourist figures to be confirmed later. These are still the highest ever annual passenger numbers at Phuket, despite Phuket airport closure in late August and Bangkok airport closure in late November due to protesters, causing flight and passenger cancellations.
