Bangkok, Thailand is aiming to become center for the regional aviation which will provide full-service for aircraft repair and maintenance, as well as training centre for regional pilots and air crew. Strategically located within the region along with strong supporting industries on aviation, the opportunities for growth and improvement are very high.

Boeing has forecasted there will be 8,960 new airplanes in the period from 2009 to 2028 for Asia-Pacific region in response to growing travels volume within the region.
 
Thailand’s current aviation sector comprise of air transportation service for passengers and cargoes and ground-based supporting activities such as refueling, catering, repair and maintenance. Bangkok Suvarnabhumi International Airport has also been ranked world 13th busiest airport by passenger traffic in 2012 up from 16th place in 2011 and ranked world 20th busiest by cargo traffic in 2010. In response to the increasing growth in the aviation industry in the region, Thai government plans to expand the 2nd phase of Suvarnabhumi Airport to support increases in passenger traffic which already exceeded its existing capacity of 45 million passengers per year.

The expansion will increase its capacity to handle 80 million passengers by 2019. The government has also approved 5.

8 billion baht plan to increase the airport’s capacity to 12.5 million passenger by 2018 and recently Chiang Mai International Airport has completed its 2 billion baht expansion.
 
Thailand Board of Investment, www.boi.go.th; Tourism Authority of Thailand, www.tourismthailand.org