Airports of Thailand (AOT) plans to increase the passenger service charge (PSC) for international departures this May. The fee will rise from 730 baht to 1,120 baht per passenger, affecting six major airports including Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang. While this change targets foreign travelers, AOT asserts it will not impact international visitor numbers to Thailand.

The decision comes amidst concerns from political parties warning that higher charges could burden passengers and harm the tourism sector. However, AOT CEO Paweena Jariyathitipong expressed confidence that tourism would remain unaffected. The projected increase in revenue, estimated to exceed 10 billion baht, is meant to align passenger fees with actual operational costs, rather than merely boosting profits.

AOT plans to reinvest revenues into airport improvements, focusing on upgrades and maintenance in areas like bathrooms, electrical and air conditioning systems, terminal structures, and security. These investments aim to enhance passenger convenience and service quality. Paweena emphasized that the PSC should be viewed as an investment in safer and more efficient airport operations, not a financial loss for travelers.

Despite reservations, studies cited by Paweena indicate that such charges typically do not deter tourists, who prioritize airfare over service fees. The new PSC is pending approval from the Minister of Transport, with implementation expected by May if sanctioned, reported The Thaiger.

Key Takeaways

• AOT to increase PSC for outgoing international flights from 730 to 1,120 baht.

• Revenue from the hike will support operational costs and airport upgrades.

• The adjustment requires approval and may begin in May.

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Adapted by ASEAN Now from The Thaiger 2026-01-31

 

 

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Thai Economics 101 - Money go down, put price up.

Thailand is already expensive enough. More nonsense like this will drive travellers to less expensive destinations.

3 minutes ago, soi3eddie said:

Thailand is already expensive enough. More nonsense like this will drive travellers to less expensive destinations.

1,120 baht is around $35.50USD.

A Cambodia eVisa is $36USD.

A Vietnam eVisa is $25USD.

All they are doing is hiding a visa fee inside an air ticket.

How will they collect from tickets I have already in hand ?

Will I need to queue up somewhere after check in?

Estimated 10 billion in income, to Invest in maintenance in areas such as bathrooms.

What are they fitting? Solid gold toilet pans?

9 minutes ago, phetphet said:

Estimated 10 billion in income, to Invest in maintenance in areas such as bathrooms.

What are they fitting? Solid gold toilet pans?

Nah, maintenance usually not include new toilets. I think they mean the costs of cleaning, the tools needed for it and cost for employees.

3 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

1,120 baht is around $35.50USD.

A Cambodia eVisa is $36USD.

A Vietnam eVisa is $25USD.

All they are doing is hiding a visa fee inside an air ticket.

I think you missed something.

6 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

The fee will rise from 730 baht to 1,120 baht per passenger

Price increase is 390 baht, about 12 bucks...........or about one Big Mac meal.

I wonder if this will be as effective as charging foreigners more to enter National Parks so the extra monies collected could be spent on maintenance.

Another nail in Thailand's tourist coffin. Greedy bar stewards are clueless. There's only one place that money's goings and it ain't on improvements

If the increase in the cost which is less than the cost of pint and half of beer in a British pub puts off tourists then the tourist can not afford to come to Thailand in the first place.

Passengers pay the following in the UK when flying to Thailand. So I doubt if the extra few quid in taxes in Thailand will put them off.

But once the tourist get here then things are super cheap compared to the UK.

Example I went to a restaurant in Chelmsford 30 miles from London last year on my visit back to England, , we had a main meal each, I had a few beers, the friend she had a few small cokes , price £110

Air Passenger Duty (UK)	£212 return (economy) much more in business class
Airport/passenger charge (Heathrow)	£40–£60 total
Carrier/airline surcharges	Depends on airline, commonly £100+

The facilities at the newer Thai airports are fantastic, super clean toilets, shops, cheap food restaurants etc.

They bitch about not enough tourism and then they raise prices and that kills tourism. Big dummies!

will soon be paying the airport more than the airline.

AOT made 18 billion Baht in profit ($500m USD) in the previous financial year. They are one of the world's richest airport operators. Thai airports are, coincidentally, some of the worst and most dangerous in the world (see the case of a woman's legs being chopped off by faulty travelators at DMK).

This is daylight robbery in plain sight. Not a penny of the extra revenue raised will be invested in improvements. Instead, it will disappear on opaque contracts and executive pay.

14 hours ago, KhunHeineken said:

1,120 baht is around $35.50USD.

A Cambodia eVisa is $36USD.

A Vietnam eVisa is $25USD.

All they are doing is hiding a visa fee inside an air ticket.

The evisas charges have nothing to do with Passenger Service Charges.

Cambodia has the Cambodia Passenger Service Charge (KX). It is approx. 950 baht.  The evisa fee is an additional fee and is separate from the passenger service charge.

10 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

I think you missed something.

Price increase is 390 baht, about 12 bucks...........or about one Big Mac meal.

That was an understatement. I don't think he/she has flown international from Cambodia.😁

Let us not forget the new (300+) baht "arrival" fee they are bringing in, which will also be hidden in the "taxes and surcharges" fine print of your future plane tickets.

That was the "new" fee they decided they needed a few years ago because a report said "Thai Hospitals" had lost 300 mil baht from "foreigners" who received treatment and skipped out on paying their bills.

At that time they could have added a 10 baht fee to the ticket price and easily recouped all that money. (Est. 39 million arrivals at 10 baht each = 390 mil baht).

Then someone came up with the idea "why not gouge them even more ?" and a fee of 300 baht was suggested. (39 mil arrivals at 300 baht each = 11.7 BILLION baht !)

And you can bet that not one satang will go towards those unpaid hospital bills or towards any kind of "medical insurance on arrival" scheme either. Pure profit going into someone's account.

And then they cry because they are "losing tourists" to Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

And the baht gets stronger and they cry because they are losing tourists.

And now they are going to increase the Departure Tax by another 390 baht on top of the 730 they were charging before. Which will bring in another 15.21 billion (based on 39 mil arrivals).
So that will be over 26.9 billion in new revenue.

And gee, I wonder what they will do when they see the "Arrivals" numbers drop - again ? Raise those fees even higher ? That does seem to be the common practise here for almost every (non-foreign owned) business.

For most people (Westerners that is) who make a trip here once, they won't even notice.

It's the "budget" and "package tour" travellers that will be affected the most. One will look for cheaper alternatives (gee, like maybe Vietnam or Cambodia perhaps) while the other will have their tour groups send them to other destinations to keep their package prices down - and profits up.

Makes you wonder where all that money will end up though.

1 minute ago, RandolphGB said:

AOT made 18 billion Baht in profit ($500m USD) in the previous financial year. They are one of the world's richest airport operators. Thai airports are, coincidentally, some of the worst and most dangerous in the world (see the case of a woman's legs being chopped off by faulty travelators at DMK).

This is daylight robbery in plain sight. Not a penny of the extra revenue raised will be invested in improvements. Instead, it will disappear on opaque contracts and executive pay.

Get a grip. The HKT airport has undergone extensive investment and its new International terminal is fine.

BKK is fine too. I suggest you try some international flights to airports around the world. Thai international service airports are pretty good in comparison. The increase is more than reasonable.

10 hours ago, NoDisplayName said:

I think you missed something.

Price increase is 390 baht, about 12 bucks...........or about one Big Mac meal.

At airport prices 1/2 big mac.

16 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Despite reservations, studies cited by Paweena indicate that such charges typically do not deter tourists, who prioritize airfare over service fees.

Service fees are included in the airfare. His comment doesn't make sense.

Why? That's a huge price increase! What will travellers get in return?

... New airport terminals that will catch fire, collapse or?...

51 minutes ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

If the increase in the cost which is less than the cost of pint and half of beer in a British pub puts off tourists then the tourist can not afford to come to Thailand in the first place.

Passengers pay the following in the UK when flying to Thailand. So I doubt if the extra few quid in taxes in Thailand will put them off.

But once the tourist get here then things are super cheap compared to the UK.

Example I went to a restaurant in Chelmsford 30 miles from London last year on my visit back to England, , we had a main meal each, I had a few beers, the friend she had a few small cokes , price £110

Air Passenger Duty (UK)	£212 return (economy) much more in business class
Airport/passenger charge (Heathrow)	£40–£60 total
Carrier/airline surcharges	Depends on airline, commonly £100+

The facilities at the newer Thai airports are fantastic, super clean toilets, shops, cheap food restaurants etc.

So in a country with much higher rents, wages, utilities, etc, you paid 4,400 baht for a meal for 2....pretty much the same price as in Thailand that has far lower rents, far lower wages, minimal taxes etc....make of that what you will 😊

Well then I won't leave...........LOL emojis not working : (

Let's hope they spend some of it on additional immigration staff for passport control, the queues are still absolutely horrendous.

Great way to attract tourism it will be shelved before it starts when they wake up and smell the coffee beans

That is approximately the same chargers as London Heathrow when Heathrow has twice the running costs ,where is the extra icome going?

I suppose it will hit large families the most. And its these that will be looking for other alternatives.

a 50% increase... that is not a bit...but the army must be paid for the fake problems at the border, the pocket must be filled of the Government, and nothing of the money will go where it should go...same for the import taxes of all articles from abroad

... greed greed and greed

51 minutes ago, baansgr said:

So in a country with much higher rents, wages, utilities, etc, you paid 4,400 baht for a meal for 2....pretty much the same price as in Thailand that has far lower rents, far lower wages, minimal taxes etc....make of that what you will 😊

That may be the price in a downtown tourist area in Thailand but not in standard non-tourist areas in Phuket used by both Thais and farangs.

I did not have a three course meal in the UK for £110, it was one main meal each, a few beers and some coke and no wine, no puddings or anything else.

I did pay about the same recently in a Thai restaurant in Phuket but we were six adults eating seafood with multiple courses and enough food left over to take home. Again no wine or beer.

35 minutes ago, Hardcastle P said:

That is approximately the same chargers as London Heathrow when Heathrow has twice the running costs ,where is the extra icome going?

Heathrow charges:

Air Passenger Duty (UK)	£212 return (economy) much more in business class
Airport/passenger charge (Heathrow)	£40–£60 total
Carrier/airline surcharges	Depends on airline, commonly £100+

1 hour ago, Kerryd said:

Let us not forget the new (300+) baht "arrival" fee they are bringing in, which will also be hidden in the "taxes and surcharges" fine print of your future plane tickets.

That was the "new" fee they decided they needed a few years ago because a report said "Thai Hospitals" had lost 300 mil baht from "foreigners" who received treatment and skipped out on paying their bills.

At that time they could have added a 10 baht fee to the ticket price and easily recouped all that money. (Est. 39 million arrivals at 10 baht each = 390 mil baht).

Then someone came up with the idea "why not gouge them even more ?" and a fee of 300 baht was suggested. (39 mil arrivals at 300 baht each = 11.7 BILLION baht !)

And you can bet that not one satang will go towards those unpaid hospital bills or towards any kind of "medical insurance on arrival" scheme either. Pure profit going into someone's account.

And then they cry because they are "losing tourists" to Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

And the baht gets stronger and they cry because they are losing tourists.

And now they are going to increase the Departure Tax by another 390 baht on top of the 730 they were charging before. Which will bring in another 15.21 billion (based on 39 mil arrivals).
So that will be over 26.9 billion in new revenue.

And gee, I wonder what they will do when they see the "Arrivals" numbers drop - again ? Raise those fees even higher ? That does seem to be the common practise here for almost every (non-foreign owned) business.

For most people (Westerners that is) who make a trip here once, they won't even notice.

It's the "budget" and "package tour" travellers that will be affected the most. One will look for cheaper alternatives (gee, like maybe Vietnam or Cambodia perhaps) while the other will have their tour groups send them to other destinations to keep their package prices down - and profits up.

Makes you wonder where all that money will end up though.

1 hour ago, Kerryd said:

It's the "budget" and "package tour" travellers that will be affected the most. One will look for cheaper alternatives (gee, like maybe Vietnam or Cambodia perhaps) while the other will have their tour groups send them to other destinations to keep their package prices down - and profits up.

Great, those are the sort of tourists Thailand does not want, they can go to cheapo Vietnam instead, keep the riff riff out.