Krabi International Airport ( th, ท่าอากาศยานนานาชาติกระบี่ , is an
international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
serving
Krabi
Krabi ( th, กระบี่, ) is the main town in the province of Krabi (''thesaban mueang'') on the west coast of southern Thailand at the mouth of the Krabi River where it empties in Phang Nga Bay. As of 2020, the town had a population of ...
,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
. It is about east of the city center. The airport opened in 1999.
In 2017, the airport handled over 4.3 million passengers. The terminal is designed for three million passengers, a number that has already been exceeded, and expansion will push its capacity to over 8 million.
Airport operations
![2016-04-16 Krabi Airport](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/2016-04-16_Krabi_Airport.jpg)
On 10 February 2016 the Krabi Airport terminal was plunged into darkness for over six hours (09:00–15:30) due to an electrical power outage. The
Provincial Electricity Authority
The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) ( Abrv: กฟภ. ; th, การไฟฟ้าส่วนภูมิภาค, ) is a Thai state enterprise under the Ministry of Interior. Established on 28 September 1960 by the Provincial Electri ...
(PEA) had notified Krabi Airport two days in advance that it would shut down power in the area for maintenance. Airport authorities activated back-up generators, but they did not work. Krabi's airport director stated after the event that management will rent generators in the future to prevent blackouts from happening. With no power for their computers, immigration officials were unable to access immigration databases and were forced to write down details of 2,000 passengers for later vetting. The deputy national police chief in charge of security, Pol Col Srivara Ransibrahmanakul, assured the public that a follow-up check showed that no blacklisted people were allowed into the country during the incident.
Expansion
In 2018, the airport was allocated 6.6 billion baht to build a third terminal, renovate the existing two terminals and car park, and expand aircraft parking bays and associated electrical power infrastructure. In 2019, the
Department of Airports announced a project to double the airport's capacity to eight million passengers per year. The airport will no longer be expanded after its final phase of expansion due to lack of space and the city's expansion, and will not be able to cope with the future traffic. So, a new
international airport
An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
is proposed to be built in
Phang Nga province, which is expected to be completed by 2025, and will serve as an alternative to Krabi airport.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
See also
*
List of airports in Thailand
*
Phang-Nga–Andaman International Airport
References
External links
Official website
{{authority control
Airports in Thailand
Buildings and structures in Krabi province
Airports established in 1999
1999 establishments in Thailand