About 161,000 Chinese tourists have entered Thailand since Beijing eased travel restrictions on Jan 8, with the total expected to reach 500,000 on May 1 and one million in August, authorities said on Friday.
Kittipong Kittikachon, the director of Suvarnabhumi airport, made the prediction at a briefing on plans to improve airport services to meet steadily rising traffic demand as the Covid-19 threat recedes.
He said that a total of 107,304 flights carrying 17.35 million passengers had arrived at the gateway airport since the reopening of the country to visitors on Oct 1.
The airport has seen high volumes of flights and a constant flow of passengers since Beijing eased travel restrictions form individuals on Jan 8, he said. Tour groups from China were given the go-ahead to travel abroad on Feb 6.
Between Jan 8 and Feb 15, there were 751 flights from China, Hong Kong and Macau to Thailand, an average of 20 a day. They carried 161,502 inbound passengers, an average of 4,142 passengers a day, said the airport director.
He predicted that Chinese tourist arrivals would reach 500,000 on May 1 and one million on Aug 20.
To cope with the steady rise in passenger numbers and the resulting congestion, particularly during peak hours, the airport has made progress in solving problems, said Mr Kittipong.
One common complaint has been baggage claim delays of 30 minutes or more — in some cases up to 90 minutes — for passengers to collect their bags from many flights. Baggage claim delays were reported for 50 flights a day in December but the number fell to 30 a day in January.
Now, such delays affect just 15 to 20 flights, or 7% of the daily total, so the situation has gradually improved, said Mr Kittipong.
Executives of the two ground service companies at the airport — Thai Airways International and Worldwide Flight Services Bangkok Air Ground Handling Co — have accelerated the process of adding personnel and equipment to match the steady increase in the number of flights, he said.
To ensure a long-term solution, Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) is seeking cabinet approval to call bids for a third ground service provider. This would increase the capacity of the airport to accommodate more flights and passengers, said Mr Kittipong, who was joined at the briefing by AoT deputy director Kirati Kitmanawat.
AoT has also been working to solve the taxi shortage at the airport, another frequent complaint of arriving passengers. It aims to increase the number of taxis registered to provide services at Suvarnabhumi to 4,500 in the near future from 3,909 now, said Mr Kittipong. AoT has said it would make the ride-hailing service Grab another option at the airport taxi desk.
AoT is also moving to solve congestion at passport checking areas by installing automated channels to accommodate outbound passengers using e-passports. Pending budget approval, the new channels would be installed between November this year and August next year.
Meanwhile, vacant spaces between the passenger terminal and Concourse D will be turned into a hall for inbound passengers and passengers with visas on arrival, the airport chief said. Construction is to start in November and is expected to be finished in May 2025.