Vice Governor Thawornwat announced news of the impending formal request at meeting at Provincial Hall yesterday (Mar 6) which was actually attended by AoT representatives from Phuket International Airport.
The meeting was called to resolve the issue after complaints from local residents, who were also at the meeting, accompanied by local community leaders.
V/Gov Thawornwat noted that the issue was first raised during a visit by Phuket Governor Norraphat Plodthong to Mak Prok Mosque in Mai Khao on Feb 16 as part of his “governor visits religious places” project.
“Three female representatives of local residents – Maream Laowlang, Jariya Umasa and Nusara Rottapak – complained to Gov Norraphat that they had been experiencing diffculty coping with the noise of aircraft at the airport for a long time,” he explained.
“There are some people that registered for compensation. Some of them have not received compensation yet,” he added.
“Gov Norraphat ordered relevant offices to discuss the issue in order to find the solution,” V/Gov Thawornwat noted.
“The meeting concludes that a letter will be sent to Phuket International Airport to come up with a solution together,” V/Gov Thawornwat said.
Flights continue to land and depart from Phuket airport throughout the night, including the hours from 2am to 7am, as evidenced last week by the recent crush of passengers waiting to clear immigration due to flights rescheduled while repairs were carried out to the runway. (See story here.)
Meanwhile, the number of aircraft and passenger traffic at Phuket airport continues to grow.
In his own press release issued on Feb 12, Airport General Manager Phet Chancharoen noted that according to airport statistics 65,469 passengers passed through the airport on Jan 29 alone, an increase of 21.43% on Jan 29, 2017.
That same 24 hours saw 363 flights land or take off from the airport, an an increase in air traffic of 14.95% on the same day last year. (See story here.)
According to AoT’s Annual Report 2017, Phuket airport served 104,849 flights last year – an average of 11.9 flights per hour, boiling down to an aircraft taking off or landing every five minutes on average – and an increase of 10.38% on the 94,989 flights served in 2016. (See report here.)