THAILAND. State-owned Airports of Thailand (AOT), which runs six gateways in Thailand, generated THB17,467.1 million (US$577.6 million) in concession revenue in the 12 months ended September 2019 – an increase of +4.5%.
The growth outpaced passenger traffic rise over the period of +1.69% to 141.8 million. Of this, 84.0 million were international passengers and 57.8 million were domestic. Low-cost traffic continued to rise faster than other segments at +5.4%.
Travel retail across AOT’s airports is dominated by King Power International which earlier this year successfully defended its retail operations with strong bids at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and regional gateways. The capital’s Suvarnabhumi and Dom Mueang airports together drive more than 70% of passenger volumes in the Thai market.
AOT pointed to a number of negative factors affecting the slower traffic growth. Among them were the trade war between the US and China; Pakistani airspace closure; riots in Hong Kong; and the appreciation of the Thai Baht.
On the positive side the airport group said: “The government has continued to proactively stimulate tourism. This involves extending the exemption of the visa-on-arrival fee for tourists from ending in October 2019 to ending in April 2020.” The extension is designed to keep Chinese tourism buoyant over the Chinese New Year period and Songkran festivals next year.
The full financial performance of AOT including net profit and earnings per share can be seen in the table below.
