Legal hurdle blocks transfer of state-run airports to AOT
A plan to transfer airports run by the Department of Airports (DOA) to Airports of Thailand Plc (AOT) would have to be shelved as there was no law allowing the transfer of government-run airports to a public company, AOT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said on Monday.
He was speaking after a meeting with the permanent secretary for transport, Chayatham Phromsorn, as well as executives of related agencies to discuss the issue.
“However, the meeting has proposed two approaches to solve this problem; one is to manage the airports under a joint venture operation, the other is to establish a special purpose entity to handle airport administration,” he said.
“The DOA and AOT will study the two options based on the annual investment plan of the DOA to determine how much investment is needed in order to achieve the goal of making Thailand a regional flight hub.
“There will be another meeting in the next two weeks and we will choose the suitable approach to present to the Ministry of Transport and then to the Cabinet for approval,” he added.
The DOA was planning to transfer three of its airports -- Krabi, Buriram and Udon Thani -- to AOT.
Udon Thani is of great importance as a flight hub to the northeast region. Before the Covid-19 outbreak, Udon Thani Airport saw more than 2.7 million passengers per year.
AOT was planning to open new direct flights from overseas to the airport, which would have increased passengers by 250,000 per year, as well as to install safety equipment of international standard, including CT scanners.
