Dr Keerati carried out inspections of both the international and domestic airports around 4pm yesterday and was joined by Phuket airport General Manager Monchai Tanode and fellow executives.
The inspection of facilities and services at the airport was instructed by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and Suriya Juangroongruangkit, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, as part of the national “Happy Festival, Everywhere in Thailand, Convenient and Safe Travel on the Transportation Network” campaign.
Mr Monchai explained that there were approximately 62,000 passengers using the airport’s services in both terminals yesterday and a total of 362 flights arriving and departing.
The introduction of a facial recognition system has helped streamline passenger processing and reduce wait times, he added, a process that was introduced for domestic passengers on Nov 1 and international passengers on Dec 1.
Mr Monchai further explained that the airport has also added more channels to facilitate passengers that are fully manned by proactive staff who can lend support to passengers at all times.
A thorough integration with security agencies will ensure rules and regulations for public transportation service providers are strictly enforced to ensure that passengers and service users are confident and receive convenient and safe services.
Mr Monchai revealed that during the seven day New Year period between Dec 27 and Jan 2, it is expected that there will be approximately 404,454 passengers travelling through the airport, which equates to 57,779 people per day.
Further breaking this figure down to 273,174 international passengers and 131,280 domestic passengers, Mr Monchai urged travellers to allow at least two to three hours ahead of flight departure times to ensure a smooth process and to avoid missing flights.