Immigration Prepares For Top-Notch Service At Don Mueang Airport: Bangkok

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Immigration prepares for top-notch service

Bamrung Amnatcharoenrit

The Nation

Don Mueang. File photo, source: wikimedia

BANGKOK: -- The Immigration Bureau is shifting into high gear to strengthen its services in preparation for the full reopening of Don Mueang Airport on October 1 to serve low-cost airlines.

So far, at least 350 new positions have been approved for immigration workers at the old Bangkok airport and state-of-the-art technology will be used to help speed service to avoid congestion, said Pol Maj-General Nathathorn Prousoontorn, commander of Immigration Division 2 of the bureau.

He expects the number of immigration officers at Don Mueang should be 400 eventually. Currently, there are 26 arrival immigration gates and 34 departure gates at the airport.

More than 2,000 immigration officers at the bureau work at five airports nationwide.

What the bureau has done at Suvarnabhumi Airport will be similar at Don Mueang. In early stages, some experienced officers will be assigned to work at Don Mueang with new officers to keep operations smooth. The number of new officers to be assigned to the airport will depend on how busy it gets.

At the same time, he said, he had strengthened the service by keeping its focus on immigration tasks only. Currently staff spend time on policing tasks. For example, they have to help seize criminals and take them to police stations. The bureau may ask for other police officials to handle such duties instead.

At present, Nok Air and Orient Thai as well as charter flights use Don Mueang. On October 1, Thai AirAsia will relocate there from Suvarnabhumi. Airports of Thailand is also in talks with 14 other low-cost carriers on setting up operations there.

Only Terminal 1 will be in operation and will accommodate 16.5 million passengers a year. Don Mueang, which was Bangkok's only international airport before Suvarnabhumi opened in 2006, can accommodate 36.5 million passengers in all of its terminals, and Terminal 2 is being prepared if congestion gets bad.

The growth of Thai AirAsia, for example, could strain the capacity of a single terminal. Currently, it operates 160 flights a day carrying an estimated 21,000 passengers, or 8 million a year. In four years, it expects to be carrying 16 million passengers annually.

Nathathorn said the previous congestion at Suvarnabhumi had taught his bureau a lot about crisis management. It will have to work even harder to provide impressive service to foreign tourists. To accomplish this, complexities will be cut. For example, the time for issuing a visa on arrival has been slashed to five minutes from 10-15 minutes.

Clearly, automatic passport-screening systems have cut down on manual work. So far, 16 such machines have screened more than 1 million passport holders, or 8,000-10,000 a day, since April 11, mainly Thais but also some foreigners such as regular flyers and permanent residents. Over the next four months, the bureau will also start using the Advance Passenger Processing system. APP will alert the bureau to unwanted passengers at point of departure. Then entry to the Kingdom will be rejected.

-- The Nation 2012-08-21

[marshbags]

May i humbly suggest as a user of the international airport they do a re assessment of Suvarnabhumi and correct more than few contradictions of their assessments re the situation and base it on a 24 hour 7 day observation from now.

Their has obviously been improvement from the horrendous past but it is inconsistant to say the least.

and far from visitor and other user friendly as experience and feedback shows in actual results.

IMHO of course.

marshbags

[bigbamboo]

They should rename DM 'Frank Sinatra International Airport'... it makes so many comebacks.

And wouldn't it be nice to fly in from the UK and enjoy this top notch welcome.

Edited August 21, 2012 by bigbamboo

[thaikahuna]

They are going to make such great service at an airport dam_n few will use. Seems to me their efforts would be better utilized at Swampy...BUT - TiT=This is Thailand.

[how241]

It's a good start.

[h90]

They are going to make such great service at an airport dam_n few will use. Seems to me their efforts would be better utilized at Swampy...BUT - TiT=This is Thailand.

Come on....you won't believe the great service, really, or do you?

[PETERTHEEATER]

I thought DM was handling predominantly domestic flights?

[Sateev]

I thought DM was handling predominantly domestic flights?

AirAsia, for one, is moving ALL their flights there, including regional/international.

[GarryP]

How about starting with spelling the name of the airport in a way most people will at least have a clue as to how it should be pronounced.

[gudtymchuk]

How about starting with spelling the name of the airport in a way most people will at least have a clue as to how it should be pronounced.

You referring to "Swampy" or DM?

[GarryP]

How about starting with spelling the name of the airport in a way most people will at least have a clue as to how it should be pronounced.

You referring to "Swampy" or DM?

I was referring to DM but it also applies to Swampy.

[Nigel1500]

Hey !!! That's me .... in the white shirt !!!!

[Skywalker69]

They are going to make such great service at an airport dam_n few will use. Seems to me their efforts would be better utilized at Swampy...BUT - TiT=This is Thailand.

Until the next flood, that is.

[sunkist]

Domestic flights only??? 400 Immigration personnel? Tax money at work ! New plan every week.

[MEL1]

They are going to make such great service at an airport dam_n few will use. Seems to me their efforts would be better utilized at Swampy...BUT - TiT=This is Thailand.

Until the next flood, that is.

Exactly! Perfect point.

Let's wait until rainy season really kicks in, see if Ayutthaya, Pathum, Rangsit (Muang Ake), and Don Meuang are NOT flooded before October, to see if this committee dream is 'REAL'.

-mel.

[Skywalker69]

They are going to make such great service at an airport dam_n few will use. Seems to me their efforts would be better utilized at Swampy...BUT - TiT=This is Thailand.

Until the next flood, that is.

Exactly! Perfect point.

Let's wait until rainy season really kicks in, see if Ayutthaya, Pathum, Rangsit (Muang Ake), and Don Meuang are NOT flooded before October, to see if this committee dream is 'REAL'.

-mel.

FROC will have a new nice office.

[gk10002000]

I thought DM was handling predominantly domestic flights?

AirAsia, for one, is moving ALL their flights there, including regional/international.

Ugh. So while I do not like SUVI airport that much, it is more convenient to Pattaya. So now if I do some flights to Cambodia or Laos on Air Asia, I have to go up tp the Don. And if I am flying in from the USA and then flying on Air Asia, I have to transfer airports. Yech.

[RogueLeader]

I thought DM was handling predominantly domestic flights?

AirAsia, for one, is moving ALL their flights there, including regional/international.

Ugh. So while I do not like SUVI airport that much, it is more convenient to Pattaya. So now if I do some flights to Cambodia or Laos on Air Asia, I have to go up tp the Don. And if I am flying in from the USA and then flying on Air Asia, I have to transfer airports. Yech.

This. Transfers from DMK to BKK, opposite sides of Bangkok, anyone? Better allow 2-3 hours.

The only people happy about this will be the taxi drivers.

[JeffreyMcCollum]

They wouldn't know top notch service if it hit them in the face !

how about starting the training with a smile class. I think they only hire people who can not smile

But again, it could be worse, Think Manila or LAX !

[colinneil]

Why criticise the staff checking passports would you be happy and smiling if you sat there all day checking passports , i think not.

[Ricardo]

After learning how to provide a top-notch Immigration-service at low-cost-carrier DMK, the capitals second-by-a-long-way airport, service to full-price passengers arriving at Swampy will continue to be patchy, provided there's no more runway-subsidence. Yay !