BANGKOK (The Nation/ANN): Airports of Thailand (AOT) has said that if the Wuhan coronavirus situation continued throughout the first quarter of this year, the estimated passenger growth of between 4 to 5 per cent would be impossible to achieve.
AOT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said that tourists arriving at the six AOT airports from Jan 23 to 28 was down by around 4 per cent from the normal rate, due to the virus outbreak
“However, AOT expected that the passenger number in 2020 would not be affected much, if the outbreak were controlled by February-end, ” he added.
Previously, AOT had estimated passenger growth at the airports at around 4 or 5 per cent from 140 million in 2019.
“Presently, AOT is collecting statistics and information related to the coronavirus effect” he said.
“We would be able to come up with the new targeted passenger numbers, in case the outbreak affects arrivals sharply, in the next one or two weeks."
“Currently, Suvarnabhumi Airport gets around 170,000 visitors per day, most of them tourists from China. This number is lower than the 200,000 average that the airport receives in January each year, ” the president added. - The Nation/Asia News Network