The Thai cabinet has approved a project to build a third runway of Suvarnabhumi international airport in Bangkok with total investment of nearly 21.8 billion baht (679.98 million USD).

Illustrative photo (Source: bangkokpost.com)

Local media quoted deputy spokesperson of the Government Werachon Sukondhapatipa as saying that the approval is conditional on the project passing an environmental and health impact assessment from the National Environment Board.

Currently, Suvarnabhumi’s two runways can handle 64 flights every hour, but if one runway needs to shut down then the airport can serve 34 flights per hour. Once the third runway is completed, the airport will be able to manage 94 flights an hour.

The two current runways are 2.2km from each other, a 4km in the east and the other 3.4km in the west. The new runway will be built in parallel with the western one.

According to the Ministry of Transport, the project, part of the kingdom’s transport development plan in the 2015-2022 period, will start in the end of this year and complete in 2021.

(Source: VNA)