Phuket Airport

Updated 28th Aug 2026

Departures from Phuket Airport at a glance

• 87flights a day3rd busiest of 30 airports
• 5routes from here
• 6airlines
• 07:30 – 22:05first and last00061218

Collected 2 September 2026. Not live — check with the airline before booking.

Phuket International Airport (HKT) sits in the Mai Khao subdistrict of Thalang district, at the northern end of the island and about 32 km from Phuket Town. It is run by Airports of Thailand (AOT), one of the six airports that company operates, alongside Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang, Chiang Mai, Mae Fah Luang Chiang Rai and Hat Yai. It is the third busiest airport in Thailand by passenger numbers, behind the two Bangkok airports.

Which terminal you need at Phuket Airport

The airport has two passenger terminal buildings, and its operator names them by what they do rather than by number: an international building of 73,103 square metres and a domestic building of 30,339 square metres. An internal walkway links them. Read the building off your own booking, and check whether your flight is domestic or international.

Numbered terminals for Phuket circulate widely, and they do not match what the airport publishes. AOT's own page for the airport lists two passenger buildings and gives neither a number, so a description built on Terminal 1, 2 or 3 does not come from the operator. A charter building called Terminal X opened in 2014 and is not among the two AOT now lists.

How busy Phuket Airport is

The airport handled 17,474,051 passengers in 2025, of whom 10,837,291 were international and 6,636,760 domestic. It recorded 106,585 aircraft movements in the same year.

For comparison, Suvarnabhumi handled 62.2 million passengers in 2024 and Don Mueang about 35 million. There is one runway, 09/27, 3,000 m long and surfaced in asphaltic concrete.

The Phase 2 expansion has not been built

AOT says on its own page for the airport that it is expanding the international passenger building to raise capacity from 12.5 million passengers a year to 18 million by 2029. Reporting in 2026 describes the same programme as still seeking approval, so treat the date as a target rather than a schedule.

Capacity figures for the airport do not agree with each other. The 2016 work is credited elsewhere with taking capacity to 20 million passengers a year, while AOT's own page puts the airport at 12.5 million today and 18 million after the current expansion.

How do I get from Phuket Airport to Patong and the beaches?

AOT lists shuttle bus, limousine, taxi and car rental as the airport's transport categories on its transport page, and the Phuket Smart Bus also serves the terminal. The drive to Patong takes roughly 45 to 75 minutes depending on traffic, and the beaches at the far end of those journeys are covered in the beaches of Phuket.

By Phuket Smart Bus

The Phuket Smart Bus is run by Phuket City Development Co., Ltd and follows the west coast from the airport through Bang Tao, Surin, Kamala, Patong, Karon and Kata to Rawai. Buses run roughly hourly. On the operator's own timetable, dated 16 January 2026, the service window out of the airport runs from 08:15 to 23:30. The return direction runs to a similar window.

The stop is by the domestic terminal, though the airport's own site and the operator's describe its position differently. The operator revises the timetable and publishes the current one on its own site, which is where to read it before relying on the last bus.

By the airport bus to Karon and Kata

AOT lists an Airport Bus Express running to Karon and Kata, boarding at Exit 3 in the domestic area, Floor 1 of the arrival zone. Karon and Kata are the two destinations the airport names for it, and its page for the service carries no fare.

By taxi

One of the taxi options at the airport runs on a government-regulated meter, with a mandatory airport surcharge added on top for every journey starting at the airport. The surcharge is posted on the rate board at the taxi counter, which is the thing to read before agreeing to anything.

Arrivals also has fixed-price counters selling zone-based fares instead of the meter, with the surcharge added to those too, and a shared minibus that goes when it fills, not to a timetable. Neither appears on any AOT page reached in researching this one; both come from third-party guides.

By airport limousine and hire car

AOT lists Phuket Airport Limousine, boarding at Entrance 1 of the Domestic Terminal, Floor 1, in the arrival zone. The vehicles are a Toyota Camry, a Fortuner SUV and a Toyota Commuter minibus, private or shared door to door. The airport's page for it carries no rate; settle the price before you get in.

AOT puts the car rental desks on the first floor.

Lounges and money at Phuket Airport

Six Coral-branded lounges operate at the airport. The ones on the international side are open 24 hours a day, and the ones on the domestic side open from 05:00 to 22:00, which AOT sets out on its own lounge page.

Thai Airways runs the Royal Orchid Lounge on the domestic side, open 08:00 to 21:00, and Bangkok Airways runs the Blue Ribbon Lounge, also domestic, open 07:30 to 19:30. A late domestic flight falls outside the domestic-side lounge hours listed here, while the international Coral lounges stay open around the clock.

Siam Commercial Bank (SCB) runs the currency exchange counters. The ones AOT lists as open 24 hours are on the international side, at Floor 1 departures and transit and at Floor 2 arrivals and transit. AOT also lists four locations as closed as of August 2026, two on International Floor 3 and two on the domestic side.

Where you can fly from Phuket Airport

This site holds schedule pages for five routes out of Phuket, a shorter list than the airport's own network:

• Phuket to Bangkok
• Phuket to Chiang Mai
• Phuket to Hat Yai
• Phuket to Koh Samui
• Phuket to Pattaya

Each inbound leg has its own page: Bangkok to Phuket, Chiang Mai to Phuket, Hat Yai to Phuket, Koh Samui to Phuket and Pattaya to Phuket. Route-by-route detail on flying in and out of the island is in the Phuket flights guide, and Phuket itself is covered in the Phuket destination guide.

Published airline lists for Phuket age badly, because carriers merge, rebrand and stop flying. Check the airline on your own booking, not a roster.

What you need on arrival at Phuket Airport

Foreign nationals entering Thailand by air, land or sea have needed a Thailand Digital Arrival Card (TDAC) since 1 May 2025. It is submitted online, free of charge, up to 72 hours before arrival, and it replaces the paper TM6 form suspended in June 2022.

Visa exemption was widened on 15 July 2024 to nationals of 93 countries, up from 57, for stays of up to 60 days instead of 30. That is still the rule, but the Cabinet approved a replacement on 19 May 2026: roughly 54 countries at 30 days, a new 15-day tier, and visa on arrival cut back. It starts 15 days after formal publication, which had not happened by mid-August 2026, so check your own nationality against the current official list close to your departure.