They said initially that it would be used to expand the nearby air force base but that seems unlikely considering how minuscule the air force is. My guess is it'll be developed into the usual malls and condos. There's no (quick)money in building parks. It sucks really, the days of spending 10 minutes going through the terminal and 20 minutes into the city will be gone.

I flew into Krabi airport recently. It got developed into a big facility a few years ago with a super long runway that can accommodate the biggest wide bodied planes and the terminal can handle 8 million pax per annum.In 2018 the number of pax reached 4.19m but it dropped in 2019 even before Covid and in 2023 the number was 2.3m. And tourism in Thailand has recovered well compared to most countries.

As we landed we saw this huge facility with a long row of gantries…and one plane. The airport actually gets 24 arrivals per day, so that’s 48 movements, but they are mostly short haul and the turnarounds are quick so the need for gates and gantries is minimal. As for wide-bodieds, there are none. There is one long haul destination - Dubai and that is served by a FlyDubai 737Max. 15 of the 24 arrivals are from Bangkok. For departure, check in was easy, security likewise. Not a busy airport.

Meanwhile BKK and DMK are really busy and they are being successful as regional hubs for places within 90 minutes flight. I wouldn’t put money on that being disrupted.

Tootsfriend wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 3:30 pm

rogerrabbit wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 1:18 pm

ali baba wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 1:01 pm I already miss the previous iteration when it had 12 check in desks and a cute water feature by the entrance.

I wonder if they'll do anything interesting with it. It could become a bus station, park and shopping mall with minimal renovation or will they fence it off for 10 years and eventually build a bunch of flats that will be bought by people with no interest in living there?

My guess is they lease or hand over the land to OCIC, and they build apartment buildings. Constructing a park or something similar would make too much sense. In Siem Reap, they leased the old airport land to the developer who built the new airport, and now they are planning to construct an 'entertainment hub for tourists'—who knows what that means.

I think it was already reported that the old airport will be still used for international cargo flights and local flights within Cambodia.

Yes, that was the original plan because they didn't want to break Cambodia Airports' (/Vinci's) contract on the old airport. But as they now signed contract that Cambodia Airports operate the new airport, they also announced that they will close the old airport completly.

no idea whats the point with a new aport ... they cant get enough flights coming to this one so a tad waste of money...

Jcml19 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:54 pm no idea whats the point with a new aport ... they cant get enough flights coming to this one so a tad waste of money...

Already in 2019 the old airport had more passengers than the planned capacity was. Obviously, in the last few years, the airport has been pretty empty, because of obvious reasons.

Jcml19 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:54 pm no idea whats the point with a new aport ... they cant get enough flights coming to this one so a tad waste of money...

To be prepared for future growth perhaps as with all city planning where you plan decades ahead and not just for today?

It takes time to build a airport from the proposal to a airplane landing so its not a good strategy to do it first when the demand is already there, then its to late.

However im not sure how many % extra capacity the new airport has compared to current demand. You obviously have the answer if you dont mind letting me know?

Albror wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2024 6:02 pm

Jcml19 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:54 pm no idea whats the point with a new aport ... they cant get enough flights coming to this one so a tad waste of money...

To be prepared for future growth perhaps as with all city planning where you plan decades ahead and not just for today?

It takes time to build a airport from the proposal to a airplane landing so its not a good strategy to do it first when the demand is already there, then its to late.

However im not sure how many % extra capacity the new airport has compared to current demand. You obviously have the answer if you dont mind letting me know?

It is surprisingly hard to obtain the total pax arrival numbers for PNH. The international visitor arrival numbers are more available but not the total arrival numbers.Several sources state the number was 6 million in 2019 (no more precise figure seems to be available) and in 2023 it was about 4 million.

The capacity is currently stated as 5 million.

It is normal for airports to anticipate capacity limitations by expanding the buildings and indeed PNH has done this several times recently. Having used the airport many times in 2019, I do not recall problems arising from it being overused. So I don’t know how accurate the 5 million figure is.

In terms of development economics, developing countries are in a good position when they spend (whether by borrowing or not) on infrastructure that achieves productivity gains. This is because the cost of the project can be more than balanced by the gains. The problem comes when you spend (especially borrowed money) on non- or low productivity gain projects. This can cause a drag on economic growth and lead to debt problems.

Cambodia has improved its roads enormously recently and this has led to spectacular productivity gains, primarily by reducing the cost of getting materials to factories and getting finished goods to ports. And there is room for more improvement with the roads.

As the roads (and probably railways) improve significantly, this will in itself have a negative impact on passenger traffic through airports. All domestic and some important international air destinations are short enough to be done by road or rail. And international climate change pressure will further cause switching to surface transport.

Of the 53 arrivals at PNH yesterday, 14 were from BKK, 5 from SGN, and 2 were domestic. Even if these routes were reduced, there is still plenty of demand for destinations that are too far to be done on the surface, Malaysia, Singapore, N. Vietnam, Laos, China, Korea, Philippines. But there is probably no need for further runway expansion. Airports can handle 400 arrivals per day with a single runway so we are a long way from needing a second runway at PNH. Only 3 wide-bodied planes arrived yesterday - a Qatar 777, and A330s operated by Korea and EVA. The latest generation of narrow-bodied planes can reach destinations such as the Middle East and Australia. The Airbus 321XLR will have a range of 4,500 nautical miles, tantalisingly not yet enough to fly to Western Europe but not far off, so it probably will happen soon. Increasingly, the reason for deploying wide-bodied aircraft is due to pax capacity being required, not for the range. That is the case with the Korean and EVA flights into PNH at present. The only passenger aircraft that PNH possibly could not currently handle is the A380, even this is just within the runway length (2900/3000m) but you wouldn't want to try it after a rainstorm.

Albror wrote: ↑Wed Apr 17, 2024 6:02 pm

Jcml19 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 13, 2024 9:54 pm no idea whats the point with a new aport ... they cant get enough flights coming to this one so a tad waste of money...

To be prepared for future growth perhaps as with all city planning where you plan decades ahead and not just for today?

It takes time to build a airport from the proposal to a airplane landing so its not a good strategy to do it first when the demand is already there, then its to late.

However im not sure how many % extra capacity the new airport has compared to current demand. You obviously have the answer if you dont mind letting me know?

When the first phase is completed it has a capacity of 13 million passengers per year. Pochentong handled a bit more than 6 million passengers during its' peak year in 2019. Last year (2023) a bit more than 4 million. So there's room for a growth of 8-9 million passengers when opening. Eventually the new airport should be capable of handling 50 million passengers per year which is about the number San Francisco processed in 2023.