Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) has denied extra charges are levied on food and beverage subtenants at international terminals in Thailand.
As proved by previous inspections carried out by several agencies, there is no evidence that subtenants of airport space are charged between 25 million and 100 million baht each in extra fees, which has been blamed for driving up prices of food and beverages at Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports, AoT president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said.
He was responding to former Democrat Party MP Chanchai Isarasenarak, who earlier claimed that subtenants were charged a wide range of extra fees in order to secure space to do business at the airports.
Having won the bidding to manage the commercial concessions space at the both airports, King Power Group leases out the space via subcontracts. However, according to Mr Chanchai, a former deputy chairman of a subcommittee on corruption with the defunct National Reform Steering Assembly, those subtenants then sublet the space they have rented from King Power to others.
Mr Chanchai said this act of multiple subletting is to blame for the considerably higher rent imposed on the businesses which finally open in the terminals.
King Power's executives could not be reached for comment.
An unnamed restaurant operator at Suvarnabhumi airport said his restaurant is required to both pay the regular rent and also give 30% of the net sales to the official tenant, which forces the restaurant to sell products at higher prices to cope with these exorbitant costs.
A source at another restaurant at Don Mueang airport said they pay 300,000 baht a month in rent for just a 6sq m unit, which explains why they cannot sell products at the same prices offered elsewhere in the city.
A recent post on social media by a user who claimed his relative has operated a coffee shop at Suvarnabhumi airport suggested that his relative has to pay 1.5 million baht a month for renting a space of 20sq m, which means the tenant has to make at least 55,000 baht a day to break even.
Mr Nitinai also responded to an observation made by acting Chief Ombudsman Gen Viddhavat Rajatanun, who said the prices of food and beverages sold at the airports are capped, at 20% for Don Mueang and 25% for Suvarnabhumi, which is only a little above regular prices. But Mr Nitinai said some prices at the airports are actually 40-50% higher.
He said the AoT held discussions with a team from the Office of the Ombudsman in March, 2016 over the matter and the AoT had been following these recommendations ever since.
However, there are different types of shops selling food and drinks which often vary in prices at the airports as well, he said, adding that 10-baht bottles of water, as well as free of charge drinking water, were also available to travellers.
Following a visit by Deputy Transport Minister Pailin Chuchottaworn to Don Mueang airport on Friday, the AoT has set up a panel to control and direct food and drinks sales at its airports, Mr Nitinai said.
The committee is tasked with ensuring business operators follow their contracts as well as recommendations made to them by the AoT for the sake of providing better services to tourists and customers at Thailand's airports, he said.
The AoT is also required to carry out a campaign to inform the public about food courts selling low-priced food and drinks at the airports and add signs showing airport visitors clear directions to these areas, he said.
Mr Nitinai also dismissed media reports that the AoT had signed a contract to rent 1,000 more airport luggage carts for seven years at a cost of 879 million baht.
The reports came with an observation that the cost is far higher than it would have been even to buy brand new units.
Each small-sized luggage cart costs 14,850 baht while the larger ones cost 25,000 baht each, which are the lowest prices offered, said Mr Nitinai, adding that Suvarnabhumi actually has a total of 10,817 such luggage carts as well as 16 towing tractors.
These numbers should indicate that the airport already has more than a sufficient number of trolleys, he said.