Bangkok – Immigration officers at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport are expecting to handle 150,000 people a day now that Songkran has ended and Thai tourists are returning home and foreign tourists are departing.
During the festivities, Suvarnabhumi Airport logged approximately 140,000 people passing through per day, 20,000 more than the average. While numbers eased on April 13 and 14, now that Songkran has concluded, it is expecting between 140 and 150,000 travelers per day until April 20. The Immigration Bureau has prepared a full complement of officers to handle the crowds until the end of the travel period.
Immigration Police are working closely with airlines and Airports of Thailand (AOT) to handle arrivals. Police are to be notified of all flight details and airlines are to hand out Immigration Cards in-flight to arriving foreigners, providing them with any information needed before landing. Volunteers have also been stationed to help arriving passengers prepare their documentation before reaching the immigration desk.
Thai travelers are reminded that they can use the Automatic Channel at the airport to speed up their immigration process as the system takes only 20 seconds to complete. Authorities will be manning lines to reduce congestion. Those departing from Suvarnabhumi, Don Muang or Phuket airports are asked to allow no less than three hours for check-in and to pass through security.
