A disruption in the immigration biometrics system occurred early Wednesday morning at Suvarnabhumi Airport, leading to a buildup of passengers and prompting swift efforts to address the issue.
Pol Maj Gen Choengron Rimpadee, commander of immigration officers at the international airport said the system was currently undergoing repairs, causing delays at the immigration counters. This, in turn, extended the time required for the processing of passport checks from the usual 45 seconds per person to over 1 minute.
The malfunction primarily impacted the Automated channels for passport checks, leading to severe congestion during peak flight hours, particularly for outbound passengers. The situation escalated quickly, resulting in long queues extending to the baggage inspection points.
The Immigration Technology Center, overseeing the affected technology system has expedited the resolution. Simultaneously, Suvarnabhumi Airport’s immigration checkpoints took immediate action according to their contingency plans, resorting to manual checks conducted by immigration officers and utilizing the airport’s application to identify individuals with potential issues such as warrants or overstays. (TNA)
