BANGKOK, Sept 30 (TNA) — Airports in Thailand will be completely built and expanded by the time when global aviation returns to its pre-COVID era in 2025, according to the Transport Ministry.
Deputy Transport Minister Thaworn Senneam told a seminar on the future of Thai aviation that all projects to build new airports and enhance the capacities of existing airports in the country would have been fully implemented by 2025 when the International Air Transport Association expected global aviation to be restored.
The deputy transport minister cited that Betong airport in Yala province was already completed and set for opening this December. Nok Air was interested in operating at the new airport and tour firms planned to arrange for chartered flights for visitors to Betong, he said.
According to Mr Thaworn, aviation played important roles in the Thai economy, generating 15.5% of its gross domestic products and employing 4.3 million people.
Due to the coronavirus disease 2019, Thai airlines laid off 120 pilots in the first quarter of this year. Unemployed pilots numbered 820 and formed 15% of all certified commercial pilots in the country, he said. (TNA)
