Bangkok airport introduce quick autogates

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Thai passengers arriving at Suvarnabhumi Airport from April onwards are set to have an easier time going through after immigration after the authorities announced plans to introduce auto-gates in arrivals.

Pol Maj Gen Natthathorn Prohsunthorn, commander of Immigration Division II, said that those with a Thai passport would be able to pass through the gates, which will scan the document to verify its authenticity, speeding up the process for all arrivals. After the passport scan, passengers will move onto a machine which identifies that they are the same person named on the passport by scanning their fingerprints.

In theory, it will take passengers arriving at Suvarnabhumi less than 20 seconds to proceed through immigration and into the arrivals hall – which will leave more immigration staff able to deal with tourist arrivals or those who do not have a Thai passport.

As well as introducing the new gates, Pol Maj Gen Natthathorn Prohsunthorn revealed that his department will soon be launching a recruitment drive in order to tackle the current staff shortage in immigration. He estimates that in order to deal with the continually rising numbers of passengers, Thailand needs another 160 officers.

The shortage will be more keenly felt over the next month when, as well as the front-line staff that have been lost to promotions and transfers, over 100 staff will be away on an annual training course. In order to make sure that arrivals into Suvarnabhumi and other airports will not be delayed too seriously, Pol Maj Gen Natthathorn Prohsunthorn plans to ask for immigration officers to be transferred from other departments.

Suvarnabhumi airport welcomed 35 million international passengers in 2011, both Thais coming home and visitors from other countries, though only 60% of the 120 immigration counters in the arrivals hall are currently operational, which has lead to significant delays at busy times.