Academics from the Chiang Mai University in Thailand have warned that the proposed plans to extend the existing runway at the Chiang Mai International Airport will have a much to big impact of the local environment, and suggest that the complete Chiang Mai airport should be relocated to another area outside the city within the next five years.

The government of Thailand plans to transform Chiang Mai airport into a regional aviation hub for the North of Thailand and hence plan to expand the existing main runway by 300 meters bringing the existing runway to 3,400 meters in length, thus allowing the Chiang Mai International airport to receive direct long-haul flights from Europe and other worldwide areas.

The Southeast Asia Technology company is conducting research on the environmental impact that would originated from the planned project. But at a meeting between the environmental assessment team and academics from Chiang Mai University, it has been decided that the impact would be too enormous for the environment, the close-by university and populated area.

The extension of the runway would completely limit the bordering university to construct new buildings in the future, while students and teachers at the university would be greatly disturbed by the noise from the large long-haul airplanes. Other disturbances would be high dust levels in the nearby populated areas and electronic disruptions to the delicate medical equipment from the nearby hospital due to increased radar and radio signals from a International Chiang Mai airport.

Doctors, pharmacists and medical researchers from the nearby hospitals and health centers are very concerned that the bigger radio and radar installations could lead to the malfunctioning of medical equipment requiring a high degree of accuracy, and that the increased level of noise could in turn compromise the well-being of patients in the hospital next to the airport.

Environmentalists and University Academics are also worried that the vibrations caused by the large long-haul airplanes could cause damage to the very close by ancient monuments and ancient Chiangmai temple ruins in the close vicinity.

It has now been proposed to the government of Thailand that rather than expanding Chiang Mai airport further into the town, that a new International Chiang Mai airport should be build, within five years, right outside the city boundaries of Chiangmai.