Suvarnabhumi Airport calls for more taxis amid surging queues

While most are elated to see tourism returning to Thailand and international flights picking up, there’s one thing virtually everyone can agree they did not miss: taxi queues. As flight arrivals ramp up, there’s a shortage of available taxis for incoming travellers. Officials at Suvarnabhumi Airport are putting out the call for more taxis to register for pick-ups as the wait times for taxi surge.

To solicit customers, taxis must register as official airport transport. Airport officials are calling on more taxis to do so to alleviate the long queues as customers arrive at Thailand’s main air hub. And the Bangkok Post reports this past long holiday weekend only served to further illustrate this need.

Tourists had already been posting pictures to social media recently showing the long wait for a ride after finally arriving in the country. But the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Day long holiday weekend saw a surge in arrivals to the airport and not enough taxis to receive them.

After plenty of very visible complaints, Suvarnabhumi Airport put out a statement saying that the spike in arriving passengers was to blame. Not enough taxis are registered to pick up the number of passengers that arrived over the weekend.

Now with all the government planning and prepping for the big numbers they’ve predicted to come pouring back into Thailand, what to do with the tourists after they land seems to have not been fully considered. Officials say that demand is rising, but it’s still far from pre-Covid levels. This discourages even taxis that are already registered from sitting in queues to pick up arriving flyers. Many are opting to spend their time looking for cab fares elsewhere.

So, Suvarnabhumi Airport officials put out an announcement urging public taxi drivers to complete the registration process and fill the demand waiting to drive out of the airport. In their statement, they vowed to send staff outreach to try to pull more taxes into the airport pickup stands.

They also took the opportunity to remind people that the Airport Rail Link train connects to the MRT lines and the BTS Skytrain and is a convenient method for getting into the city without the need for a taxi. Public buses, shuttle vans, and private limousines are also available to avoid the growing taxi queue.