Suvarnabhumi director says they have more staff - ready for 70,000 daily passengers in June

[webfact]

Daily News Thai Caption: Ready for service

 

An upbeat director of Bangkok's main airport Suvarnabhumi said that staff had been increased and the airport was ready to cope with 70,000 passengers daily this month.

 

The PR exercise - along with a long video published by Daily News - came after huge queues were published on social media especially at the THAI desk.

 

Daily News didn't mention this in their report concentrating instead on the comments of Kittipong Kittikhajorn, the director.

 

He said that since the government eased restrictions in relation to Covid-19 starting on June 1st 70,000 passengers had been arriving daily at the airport.

 

This comprised 42,000 international arrivals and 28,000 domestic. 

 

There had been 460 flights a day on average, 240 international and 220 domestic.

 

Picture: Daily News

 

He said that improvements had been made to increase efficiency with 318 counters now open for outbound travellers. 

 

There were 196 CUSS machines.

 

These are not machines where people get angry and swear, notes ASEAN NOW - it stands for Common Use Self-Service. 

 

There are also 42 CUBDs - Common Use Baggage Drop machines. 

 

This would be enough, he claimed, and counters would be open for service up to three hours before departure.

 

He said that extra airport staff were on standby for peak hours including extra staff at carry on baggage check and body check and handling traffic on the fourth floor and security.

 

He said that he had been working with airlines and government agencies to ensure that the airport was Thailand's front door to the world helping to get the economy moving again. 

 

Inbound arrangements were not mentioned at all in this report. 

 

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[ThailandRyan]

So they are now expecting over 2 million visitors a month all of a sudden, but hey having the proper staffing levels is always what's needed....

[Yorkshire Tea]

Perhaps they could lend some to Manchester Airport ????

[law ling]

Good to see the guy is "upbeat" - he should have lost his job after the fiasco earlier in the week.

 

Anyway, as usual: being reactive, never proactive - it should have been a piece of cake for him to click his computer and see what planes and passengers are leaving at any given time, and plan staffing levels accordingly: but no, don't plan, then wait for a problem to arise and then think about how to solve it is the way here (so it seems).

[Rooo]

Wife travelling on Thai this morning, got there early, check in, immigration 25 minutes.

Plenty of counters open , no problems.

[Mavideol]

8 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

So they are now expecting over 2 million visitors a month all of a sudden, but hey having the proper staffing levels is always what's needed....

not including the 5 Mil Indians  555

[terryofcrete]

8 hours ago, Yorkshire Tea said:

Perhaps they could lend some to Manchester Airport ????

And a few bob to Dublin Airport ....sacked the staff during peak covid time but now can't recruit because they changed the contract terms ...needless to say not attractive now at all.

[hashmodha]

"There were 196 CUSS machines.

These are not machines where people get angry and swear, notes ASEAN NOW - it stands for Common Use Self-Service". 

Sorry but what are these machines for and what do they do?

 

[terryofcrete]

Came through immigration leaving BKK on Tuesday evening. There was only me ...no exaggeration ...

[khunjeff]

1 hour ago, hashmodha said:

"There were 196 CUSS machines.

These are not machines where people get angry and swear, notes ASEAN NOW - it stands for Common Use Self-Service". 

Sorry but what are these machines for and what do they do?

They're automated check-in kiosks. Usually airlines use their own proprietary machines, but there also (mostly unpopular) versions that serve multiple carriers. 

[khunjeff]

10 hours ago, webfact said:

He said that improvements had been made to increase efficiency with 318 counters now open for outbound travellers. 

 

10 hours ago, webfact said:

counters would be open for service up to three hours before departure.

What is he blathering on about? The number of counters being used by each carrier, and the number of check-in staff assigned, are determined by each airline, not by airport management. He only controls security and maintenance staff, plus some of the baggage handling personnel. 

 

 

[sambum]

11 hours ago, law ling said:

Good to see the guy is "upbeat" - he should have lost his job after the fiasco earlier in the week.

 

Anyway, as usual: being reactive, never proactive - it should have been a piece of cake for him to click his computer and see what planes and passengers are leaving at any given time, and plan staffing levels accordingly: but no, don't plan, then wait for a problem to arise and then think about how to solve it is the way here (so it seems).

".............don't plan, then wait for a problem to arise and then think about how to solve it is the way here (so it seems)."

 

There are of course no "kudos" to be had if things are running smoothly. The way to get noticed and get your "pat on the back" is to anticipate the problem, let it happen,  and then solve it in record breaking time, and you will get your "didn't he do well " sticker! 

[charmonman]

Coming back in July. My airfare is over twice what it is normally. Airfares are apparently extremely high in general. No one seems to be pointing it out that this could put a huge damper on international tourism arrivals if it is prolonged.

[JeffersLos]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

staff had been increased and the airport was ready to cope with 70,000 passengers daily this month.

 

That's great, because that's a lots of baggage to steal from. 

[hotchilli]

19 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

So they are now expecting over 2 million visitors a month all of a sudden, but hey having the proper staffing levels is always what's needed....

Rose tinted glasses again

[Blumpie]

Airports around the world are going bonkers right now.  The USA FINALLY suspended mandatory testing for travel.  

[10baht]

4 hours ago, charmonman said:

Airfares are apparently extremely high in general. No one seems to be pointing it out that this could put a huge damper on international tourism arrivals if it is prolonged.

Exactly, demand destruction of its own making. If they would have dropped the Thai <deleted> there would would have been more people and more staffing long ago.

[CharlieH]

Post using ALL CAPS has been removed along with a post quoting it.

[sandyf]

On 6/10/2022 at 2:43 AM, ThailandRyan said:

So they are now expecting over 2 million visitors a month all of a sudden, but hey having the proper staffing levels is always what's needed....

I arrived about 3pm yesterday,  flight full as was the reclaim hall.   Straight through and out of arrivals within 40 minutes of touch down. Not a problem until outside.

Complete congestion, taxis were picking up in the outside lane and nobody could move. A team of airport security arrived and soon sorted it,  if not in the nearest 2 lanes had to go round again. My wife was on the approach road when I was in reclaim and I still had to wait over 20 minutes for her to get into the airport, of course they could have improved the staffing levels.

[sandyf]

On 6/10/2022 at 2:45 AM, Yorkshire Tea said:

Perhaps they could lend some to Manchester Airport ????

Quite, my flight from Gatwick to Belfast was cancelled at 36 hours notice. Had to go by train and ferry, not the best of journeys, would have rather stood in a queue but there is no pleasing some.

[sanuk711]

There figures could be close to the mark-- got to remember if your traveling to Vietnam/Cambo/Lao's/Myanmar --on a lot of the larger airlines you usually stop off here or Singapore. The difference with here is-- At the moment, you usually have to come through immigration & travel to the 2nd airport DM.

So the numbers dont always mean that their just heading to Thailand.

[Travis179]

9 hours ago, charmonman said:

Coming back in July. My airfare is over twice what it is normally. Airfares are apparently extremely high in general. No one seems to be pointing it out that this could put a huge damper on international tourism arrivals if it is prolonged.

Absolutely! Just booked a flight for July as well. Cheapest I could find was $1,550 (departing San Francisco). About twice pre-COVID, and 50% higher than just last year. Damper is an understatement. 

[samtam]

On 6/10/2022 at 8:34 AM, webfact said:

An upbeat director of Bangkok's main airport Suvarnabhumi said that staff had been increased and the airport was ready to cope with 70,000 passengers daily this month.

"...this month", we're nearly half way through June, (and 2022).

 

Quote

 

He said that he had been working with airlines and government agencies to ensure that the airport was Thailand's front door to the world helping to get the economy moving again. 

 

Inbound arrangements were not mentioned at all in this report. 

 

Clearly a well thought out plan, covering every avenue.

[sandyf]

59 minutes ago, sanuk711 said:

The difference with here is-- At the moment, you usually have to come through immigration & travel to the 2nd airport DM.

You would have to explain the "difference", happens at many airports around the world, different airport or terminal for onward travel.

A couple of nights ago at Vienna I had to go through passport control on leaving the aircraft and then back through passport control for connecting flight in the same terminal. With brexit can no longer use the gates and had to have passport stamped.

[UbonEagle]

Couple of things.

Firstly, airport staffing eg immigration has nothing to do with the huge THAI check in issues last week, that is a matter solely for THAI airways and given their financial woes frankly I’m not surprised.

I flew in from Sydney on Saturday, landed at 16:30 zero queues and actually beat the luggage to the baggage claim and was upstairs checking into my 6pm domestic flight with time to spare. The queue up at Thai Smile was fairly long but thank god for the THAI gold card I was done in a few minutes.

so overall a very good experience, the immigration booth setup is new and if well staffed things should be ok going forward, also downstairs in domestic departures a significant facelift with even a nice little bar set up ????

[josephbloggs]

On 6/10/2022 at 9:53 AM, law ling said:

Good to see the guy is "upbeat" - he should have lost his job after the fiasco earlier in the week.

 

Anyway, as usual: being reactive, never proactive - it should have been a piece of cake for him to click his computer and see what planes and passengers are leaving at any given time, and plan staffing levels accordingly: but no, don't plan, then wait for a problem to arise and then think about how to solve it is the way here (so it seems).

Yawn.  Another groundless bash.  You do realise the airport director doesn't tell Thai Airways how many staff to employ?  And you do realise the click-baity story on here about the long queues at check in happened for one single day then was solved.  But yet everyone on here still goes on about it even thought they never saw or experienced it themselves.

I have flown out internationally twice in the last couple of weeks (including this morning) and there were no queues at check in, just business as usual.  Big queues at Vietjet though, but nothing much at Thai.  But "webfact" won't come back with a follow up to say that, best to let the TVF populace froth - the TVF frothers who haven't been anywhere near the airport!

When I arrived at Heathrow a couple of weeks ago it took me 90 minutes - as a UK citizen - to clear immigration.  Should the Heathrow Director be fired for a poor immigration s**t show?  My two recent returns to Thailand have taken no more than five minutes each time.  Way better, way more efficient.  But that doesn't get people clicking, raging, and commenting.

If you had a bad experience, post about it as it is valid..  If you are just reading headlines on this website please don't post your outrage because it is not valid.