Twelve flights landed in little over an hour, overwhelming the immigration officers on duty. It took officials until past 4am, some three-and-a-half hours after the first flight landed, to process the crowd of holiday-makers.

The first of the flights landed at 12.30am, followed by 11 more charter and scheduled flights from China and South Korea, landing at about five-minute intervals.

Airport official Weera Thippayathad said the delays at immigration were exacerbated by the inability of most of the visitors to speak or read English or complete arrival cards.

The per-person processing time took much longer than the usual 30-40 seconds, because officers had to complete the forms for them, he said.

The eight immigration officers on duty were assisted by 10 airport staff called in to help with the mammoth task.

"The problem lies with the landing slots allocated by the Civil Aviation Department, which is responsible for flight scheduling. I don't understand why they arranged for so many flights to land in such a short period of time," Weera added.

At 2pm, Phuket Governor Niran Kanlayanimit chaired an urgent meeting to discuss ways to prevent a recurrence and instructed Phuket Airport and its Immigration Office to inform the Civil Aviation Department of the problem.

At the meeting, Phuket Airport Immigration Office superintendent Pol Colonel Surasak Atthapanyawanich urged the Tourism Authority of Thailand to make sure that tour operators helped their customers fill out immigration forms.

Phuket Gazette

PHUKET