Thai airports are getting ready for the high season by shortening the lines at immigration

On Friday, Transport Minister Saksayam Chidchob announced that as a first step, the waiting time for passport checks has been lowered from 30 minutes to 15, with immigration authorities spending no more than 1 minute per passport. The previous waiting time was 30 minutes. In the past, airport personnel was employed to fill in for immigration inspectors, but Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered that police officers be trained and placed on standby in order to find a more permanent solution to the problem.

While this is going on, a representative for the government named Traisuree Traisaranakul stated that even if the issue of travelers having to wait a long time for their arrival stamps has been resolved, travelers still have to wait a long time for their bags. According to her, this has been an issue for a long time because business owners cut back on the number of employees they employed during the pandemic and have not hired more since then. As tourists begin to arrive back in Thailand, the Ministry of Transport has stated that it has taken measures to reduce the length of the lines at major airports.

Saksayam has indicated that he will convene a meeting with the relevant employees the following week in order to locate a solution. In addition to that, he stated that he has established a command center to keep an eye on the issue as well as a committee to coordinate the integration of services at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports. The Airport Department, Airports of Thailand, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand, the Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, and the Immigration Bureau will be responsible for coordinating their respective operations with one another through the command center.

According to Traisuree, these efforts were done in response to directives given by Prayut, who said that all airports should be prepared for an inflow of tourists now that the country is fully open.