Mr. Kerati Kijmanawat, Director of Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (SET: AOT), has provided an update on the progress of selecting a public-private partnership (PPP) for a parking and ground support equipment project, which is worth 29,390.76 million baht to bring a third-party operator to Suvarnabhumi Airport. Currently, a committee, as per Article 35 of the Public-Private Partnership Act B.E. 2562 (2019), is considering the terms of reference (TOR), as when the TOR gains approval, AOT will immediately open the auction.
According to estimations, the auction can be opened by the end of April, as initially planned. Afterward, the private sector will be given 45 days to prepare their proposals. Following this, another three months will be required before the contract can be signed. AOT Ground Aviation Services Company Limited (AOTGA), in which AOT held 49% of the shares and SKY ICT Public Company Limited (SET: SKY) held 51% via SAL Group (Thailand) Company Limited, or SAL, is expected to participate in the bidding.
AOT will include the regulations stipulated by the government to be considered with its concession contract with the King Power Group as to whether the laws will impact the rights mentioned in the contract or not. If the rights were affected, there would be a need for amendments. However, if it were only the concerns of a request for space reclaiming, there wouldn’t be a need for amendments because the contract already allows AOT to increase or decrease commercial areas as deemed necessary.
AOT is also expecting more than 2.61 million passengers to utilise AOT’s six airports during the Songkran festival 2024 (April 11-17, 2024), marking a 28.50% increase compared to the same period of the previous year. This includes approximately 1.65 million international passengers (up 46%) and roughly 962,362 domestic passengers (an increase of 6.59%).
Meanwhile, the total number of flights is expected to be around 15,113, a 16.71% increase from the previous year, divided into 8,682 international flights (up 32.53%) and approximately 6,431 domestic flights (up 0.52%).
