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Thailand: AoT extends payment period for businesses affected by Covid-19

The Airports of Thailand board has resolved to extend a 6-month credit term payment to 12 months for businesses and airlines affected by the Covid-19 pandemic at airports under its supervision, AoT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said on Thursday.

Mr Nitinai said the board during its meeting on July 29 agreed to extend the credit term of monthly  payments at all six airports during February to July this year from six months to 12 months, as part of assistance measures for business and airline operators affected by the coronavirus outbreak, Thai media reported.

The AoT president also said King Power Group had won the bidding to operate duty-free shops at Suvarnabhumi airport for 10 years and six months from September 28 this year to March 31, 2031, 

During the first six months of the contract, the operator was required to renovate duty-free shops at the main passenger terminal and the first satellite terminal, or SAT-1

However, the Covid-19 pandemic had affected the opening plan for the SAT-1 terminal, which was set for this year. Construction materials and experts who would come to test the system at the terminal could not enter Thailand. This caused the opening of the terminal to be postponed.

Consequently, King Power Group was unable to carry out the work required under the contract.  

The AoT board recently held talks with King Power to set the date for the work to be in line with the opening of the SAT-1 terminal in April 2022. 

Earlier, the AoT board met on Feb 19 to approve measures to help concessionaires and airlines involved in more than 1,000 contracts with AoT after their revenue sharply dropped due to the coronavirus outbreak.

Under the measures, AoT would collect revenue sharing from those operators based on the amount of products sold, not at minimum returns it earlier set.

The new measures took effect from Feb 1 until March 31, 2012, according to Thai media reports.

Source: https://www.bangkokpost.com/business/1960035/aot-extends-payment-period-for-businesses-affected-by-covid-19