Suvarnabhumi Expands Auto Gates to 31 New Nationalities

Suvarnabhumi Airport plans to expand its automated passport control, or Auto Gate, system to travelers from 31 additional nationalities by the end of August, as the government moves to ease congestion at Thailand's main international gateway.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Suphajee Suthumpun and officials from the Tourism and Sports and Transport ministries inspected Suvarnabhumi Airport on Monday to discuss measures to improve the arrival experience and tackle overcrowding.

The airport sees around 190,000 passengers a day during the peak travel season and 140,000-150,000 during the low season. International arrivals account for about 70,000 passengers a day.

The busiest period is between 1 p.m. and 5 p.m., when as many as 5,000-6,000 passengers per hour can enter immigration areas, putting pressure on immigration counters, staff and available space.

As an immediate measure, Suvarnabhumi and the Immigration Bureau will improve the use of all three immigration zones by directing passengers toward less crowded areas, opening a central hall to help disperse crowds and deploying additional officers during peak flight periods.

The Immigration Bureau has approved in principle an expansion of Auto Gate eligibility to 31 additional nationalities. The measure is currently awaiting final signatures and is expected to take effect by the end of August.

The nationalities were selected based on immigration rejection statistics, the Henley Passport Index and national security considerations.

The expansion is expected to add around 6.5 million potential Auto Gate users, along with another 900,000 long-term visa holders.

Once the system is operating at full capacity, officials expect 53% of arriving passengers to be able to use Auto Gates, while the remaining 47% will go through immigration officers.

The rollout will be phased according to system readiness and the availability of biometric data. Travelers who have previously entered Thailand and already have biometric information in the system will be able to use the gates first, while first-time visitors will still need to have their biometric data collected.

The government said improving the immigration process is part of a broader effort to strengthen Thailand's tourism infrastructure, with the arrival experience at the airport seen as the first link in a wider tourism chain covering airlines, transport, hotels, restaurants, retail and other services.