Thailand announces ambitious plans to become one of the world's top 10 air hubs

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin unveiled the "Thailand Vision 2030" with a commitment to transform the country into a regional aviation hub by 2030, able to handle more than 150 million international passengers annually.

In his speech, he shared his belief that Thailand has what it takes to become a hub for air traffic in the Asia-Pacific region and rise to the top 10 air logistics and distribution centres in the world, Vietnamplus.vn reports.

The Thai government is planning to develop Thailand's airports to return to the top 20 in the world within the next five years, especially the six airports managed by Airports of Thailand Public Company Limited (AOT), namely Suvarnabhumi, Don Muang, Chiang Mai, Mae Fah Luang - Chiang Rai, Phuket and Hat Yai.

This plan includes the reconstruction and expansion of existing airports, as well as the construction of new airports to increase passenger and cargo capacity. In addition, the government also plans to build a large shopping mall near the airports to attract tourists, as well as connect the airports to the mass transit system (SRT - Red Line train) to provide quick access to the cities for passengers.

As TravelWise reported, the Ministry of Tourism has discussed ways to encourage charter flights from China, South Korea, Russia and Europe with the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT). All this is in order to increase the number of tourists and achieve the goal of 40 million set by the Prime Minister.