Airports of Thailand Plc (AoT) is set to launch a mobile application to ease passenger congestion in its airports by the first quarter of next year, the state enterprise's president Nitinai Sirismatthakarn said.
The airports chief made the comments during an AoT sister airport seminar held in Bangkok. The firm currently has 16 sister airports across nine countries, including the United States, Germany, Belgium, Japan and South Korea, in addition to Southeast Asian countries.
According to him, the planned app will give passengers information about flights, the carousel on which their baggage will be unloaded as well as the exact time of its arrival.
"With this information, they need not have to rush and instead opt to go for a little shopping before their bags arrive at the carousels," Mr Nitinai said.
"Arriving passengers will also get information about which toilets are more congested, to give them the option of choosing another toilet nearby which is less crowded,'' he added.
The app will also give passengers up-to-date information about parking lots availability at AoT airports, Mr Nitinai said, adding that a taxi-booking service will also be included.
He said the app, currently without an official name, will initially be rolled out in Suvarnabhumi (in Samut Prakan), Don Mueang and Phuket airports, by the first quarter of next year.
The AoT's remaining three airports, in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai (in Songkhla), will be integrated into the app in the second quarter, he added.
"The app itself will not take a lot of time to develop but much of the hardware needs to be put in the airports themselves, such as multilingual signs and maps [to ensure the apps' efficiency], Mr Nitinai said.
According to him, the entire project will cost nearly 400 million baht for all six airports. The AoT estimates at least one million people will initially use the app once it is available.
Mr Nitinai said the app will eventually be used worldwide, across all of its sister airports, adding that representatives from the 16 airports have already agreed to develop the app together.
"In the future, if you are going to Munich from Bangkok, you will be able to book a taxi from Thailand, and the vehicle will be waiting for you when you reach there," he said.