Lanna and Andaman airports: what they change for buyers

Why do Chiang Mai and Phuket need a second airport?

Because their current airports are reaching the limit of their capacity: that is the diagnosis in Thailand's national spatial plan. In Chiang Mai, the terminal is wedged into the urban fabric, south-west of the old city; in Phuket, it occupies the north-west tip of the island, between Mai Khao beach and the hills. The plan lists both among the nine regional international airports whose capacity it wants to increase, and describes congested runways, terminals and aprons, with traffic above or close to what they can handle, on printed page 151.

The Department of Public Works and Town & Country Planning, or DPT, draws the conclusion in this 2026–2037 plan, published on 5 October 2026. Its tourism section names two international airports to be developed: Lanna, in Lamphun province, and Andaman, in Phang Nga province, on printed page 139, PDF page 142. Its transport section gives the reason in a single sentence: existing airports are over capacity, and new ones are needed to meet future passenger and freight demand (printed page 153).

The plan is not betting only on new sites. Its table of measures also expands the airports already in service: Chiang Mai in a phase 1 and then a phase 2, Phuket with its phase 2, alongside Krabi and Surat Thani, on printed pages 161–162. Chiang Mai and Phuket are also among the six airports set to become “Smart Airports” (printed page 151). For a resident, the gateway they use today is on the programme too.

The longer view appears in the section on international connections. Lamphun is listed there “in line with the plan to build Chiang Mai's second airport”, Phang Nga “in line with the plan to develop Phuket's second airport”. The table of measures, on printed page 242, does not give them the same pace: the Phang Nga project is ticked for the 2027 and 2032 horizons, the Lamphun project for all three, through to 2037. The same table schedules works at the existing airports of Phuket, Krabi and U-Tapao in the short term, and at Chiang Mai in the short and medium term. These are working horizons, not opening dates: they show only that the northern project is spread over a longer period than the Andaman one.

This shift matters to very different people. A couple who winter in Chiang Mai and fly back to Europe in spring judge an address by its flights; a family living year-round in Phuket looks first at the school, the clinic and the morning run. For the first, the airport is almost part of the home; for the second, it counts a few times a year. Both gain from looking at the whole region, not just the city that drew them there.

Lanna and Andaman: which territories deserve a closer look?

In the North, the transport section targets two neighbouring districts for Chiang Mai's second airport: Ban Thi, in Lamphun province, and San Kamphaeng, in Chiang Mai province, on printed page 153, PDF page 156. This is the plain that stretches east and south-east of the city towards Lamphun. That page does not name Lanna; we read it alongside printed page 139, which places Lanna in Lamphun, the province Ban Thi belongs to. The plan thus designates a study area straddling two provinces, not a site.

Lamphun changes status in the same document. This small provincial capital next to Chiang Mai is one of the thirty-seven towns the plan wants to promote to “City”, the fourth level of its urban hierarchy, on printed page 60. With Chiang Mai it forms one of the two regional conurbations the plan wants to give a shared infrastructure master plan (printed page 61), and the rail section provides for double track to an industrial estate in Lamphun (printed page 158). The framework for the North adds the ambition of a liveable, smart Chiang Mai, creative tourism and Lanna culture, on printed page 41.

On the Andaman coast, the transport section designates Phang Nga province for Phuket's second airport, on the same printed page 153 of the DPT plan, published on 5 October 2026. Phang Nga is the mainland coast facing the north of Phuket. The plan concentrates other projects there: a Surat Thani–Phang Nga–Tha Nun double-track railway, extended from Tha Nun to Phuket International Airport, on printed page 157, and two container depots at Thap Put and Tha Nun (printed page 153). The province becomes the hinge between mainland and island; its ports and piers are covered in our article on Thailand's ports.

Phang Nga is also one of the plan's twenty-two international tourism hubs, on printed page 137, and one of the six provinces of the Andaman Wellness Corridor. With Chiang Mai, it is among the ten international-destination provinces for which the plan provides an urban-improvement master plan, to attract tourists, skilled workers and digital nomads who come to work and live there, on printed page 244. Our guide to living in Phuket describes settling on the island side.

Where do the Lanna and Andaman studies stand?

At the preliminary-study stage, under review by the transport authorities. Three public documents, from three different authors, give the position on three successive dates; none of them concerns a decision to build.

In its report dated 13 August 2026, Airports of Thailand, or AOT, states that it has carried out feasibility and investment-return studies for both airports. These reports are being reviewed by the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand, or CAAT, before the procedure for submission to the Cabinet, on page 19 of its report.

The Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning, or OTP, then reports a meeting with AOT on 3 September 2026: the preliminary reports were examined and additional information requested before the review continues, according to the OTP notice on the two airports. It is the most recent milestone we have found as of 12 October 2026.

For Lanna, a Thai government notice published on 18 May 2026 adds a step: the AOT Board approved the preliminary report in December 2025, and the report was submitted to the ministry and the CAAT in April 2026. The approval concerns the study; it amounts to neither a building permit, nor funding, nor an opening.

The two projects and three documentary milestones to keep distinct:

What separates a sound purchase from a bet on the airport?

A sound purchase works with today's airport; a bet relies on tomorrow's. The difference seems obvious, yet it is easily lost in a sales conversation. An address in Chiang Mai, Lamphun or Phang Nga should be judged on the actual journey to the terminal in service, on everyday services and on the state of the neighbourhood. Lanna or Andaman come afterwards, as a dated and sourced option.

No site boundary, runway or flight path appears in the documents we have read. The plan cites districts and a province; a plot marketed as “right by the future airport” therefore rests on information these sources do not contain, and which should be requested in writing, with its reference. The same goes for noise: without a published layout, no document can say which valley or which beach would be overflown.

The files must also be kept apart. An environmental impact assessment, a budget or works published for the expansion of Chiang Mai or Phuket airport concern the existing airport; they do not apply to Lanna or Andaman. A serious counterpart cites the exact project, the document and its date.

Some checks can be made now, and the plan supplies the material. It classifies Chiang Mai and Lamphun provinces as pollution control zones from February to May, and places several sub-districts between the two cities, in Mueang Chiang Mai, Saraphi and Mueang Lamphun, in environmental protection areas, on printed page 195. On the Andaman side, the same page lists seven districts of Phang Nga, including Takua Thung, Thai Mueang and Thap Put, as well as Phuket province, among these protected areas. These classifications are governed by their own regulations: they are checked at the address, before any offer.

When we model a move to the North and the Andaman coast

How should these projects be read on a map?

On a map, each piece of information should keep its status. Chiang Mai and Phuket airports are facilities in service; Ban Thi, San Kamphaeng and Phang Nga province are target areas of the plan, with no point or runway; the AOT, OTP and government milestones are dated markers attached to each project. The protection and pollution control zones from printed page 195 form a separate layer, to be cross-checked against the address.

This separation makes possible an exercise few sources offer: start from the destination that draws you, widen it to the region the plan sketches, then come back to the neighbourhood with the right questions. If a Cabinet decision or an environmental impact assessment specific to Lanna or Andaman is published, it will be added to the relevant project, with its date.

What you can do now

Start with what exists. For each address you are considering in Chiang Mai, Lamphun, Phuket or Phang Nga, make the journey to the airport in service, to healthcare and to school, at the time you would really travel; then check whether the sub-district appears among the zones on printed page 195. Add Lanna or Andaman as the last line, with the source and the date of the latest milestone. Our map-based guide catalogue helps place these layers around the place where you want to live.