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Shops in Phuket International Airport are being moved out to make way for more immigration officers, as the airport is bracing for a deluge of passengers, whose numbers currently exceed 10 million per year.
Airport director Pratuang Sornkham said yesterday that construction on a temporary terminal would be completed in January to accommodate chartered flights and private jets. These are temporary measures before the expansion project will be completed late next year, boosting annual capacity from 6.5 million to 12.5 million passengers.
Passengers have risen from 20,000 a day last year to 30,000 on 200 flights a day, compared to 150 a year earlier. Arrivals are expected to increase 10 per cent.
China tops the foreign-visitors list, followed by Russia, Pratuang added.

LOW PRICE SPURS GOLD BUYING
Russia expanded its gold reserves by 12.7 tonnes to 1,015.5 tonnes in August, according to Bloomberg, referring to International Monetary Fund data.
Kazakhstan’s reserves also rose 2.5 tonnes to 134.5 tonnes and Turkey added 23.4 tonnes, making a total of 487.4 tonnes.
In the month, gold advanced 5.3 per cent, the second straight monthly gain and longest rally since September last year, as lower prices boosted demand amid mounting concern about military action against Syria.
Investors sold 16.8 tonnes from gold-backed exchange-traded products in the month, the smallest outflow this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

IPOs DECLINE AROUND WORLD IN Q3
Globally, initial public offering activity in the third quarter was estimated to have fallen by 4 per cent in deals and by 47 per cent in value from the second quarter, according to Ernst and Young.
However, for the first nine months of the year, 566 IPOs are expected to raise US$94.8 billion. Though the number of deals is lower than the 637 recorded last year, the proceeds are higher than the $91.4 billion generated last year.
The increase in activity is likely to continue through the rest of this year and into next year.

AMATA B GRIMM TO RAISE BT50 BN
Amata B Grimm Power Group will raise about Bt50 billion in additional funds to invest in 16 power plants with total capacity of 2,000 megawatts by 2019.
Noppadej Karnasuta, the group’s chief financial officer, said that about Bt10 billion would be raised from shareholders, while the rest would come from bank loans.
Regarding the raising of capital from shareholders, the group has looked at listing in the local stock market, as well as the establishment of a new infrastructure fund.