People are being urged strongly to arrive at Suvarnabhumi airport three hours prior to their flights during the upcoming Songkran holidays because of an expected surge in the number of air passengers.
The airport is forecast to receive 160,000 outbound travellers a day over the five-day holiday, prompting immigration officials to work on coping strategies since Sunday.
The biggest festival of the year besides New Year kicks off on April 12.
That day was added to the holiday, originally scheduled to run from April 13-16, after the cabinet elected to use the traditional Thai New Year to give a major boost to the economy and tourism industry.
Inevitably, that will see large numbers of people travelling across the country and more foreigners arriving to join in the world-renowned water splashing tradition.
However, the numbers pose a challenge to immigration police as they will be tasked with facilitating travellers and tightening security checks, Immigration Division 2 chief Phrutipongse Prayoonsiri said, adding the two tasks must be carried out in tandem.
Officers have been warned to watch out for criminal suspects who may try to conceal themselves among the travellers while also accelerating passport checks so as not to cause unacceptably long waiting times.
The airport typically serves 120,0000 travellers a day, meaning staff will have to deal with a 33% spike, according to Immigration Division 2 deputy chief Cherngron Rimpadee.
He was citing an estimate made by Airports of Thailand Plc.
Other airports are expected to face a similar situation, Pol Col Cherngron said, adding that Don Mueang will see nearly 55,000 travellers a day and Phuket 35,000 passengers.
Immigration officers will be out in full force to cope with this surge, Pol Col Cherngron said.
He said that ideally officers should spend only 45 seconds per passenger on average but he did issue a warning that many people will likely have to wait for up to an hour to be processed.
Because passengers are required to check in at ticket counters, go through security checks and have their passports inspected, Pol Col Cherngron advised travellers that they should arrive at airports several hours before their flights.
Passengers may need a total of three hours to complete all of the steps when crowds of people go through the checkpoints, immigration officers said.