Just hours to go: Phuket Airport all set to welcome 533 international passengers on 1st day of reopening
Five international flights are set to touch down at Phuket Airport tomorrow, July 1, the first day of the Phuket Sandbox scheme to reopen the island province to foreign visitors, airport director Thanee Chuangchu said after a final inspection on Tuesday, expecting 533 international passengers to arrive on the first day.
Under the sandbox, foreigners who can verify they have been fully inoculated against Covid-19 and test negative can fly into Phuket and move around freely in the province without having to quarantine. After spending 14 days in Phuket and if they still test negative, they can then travel to other parts of Thailand.
“An Etihad Airways flight will arrive at 10.30am, followed by a Qatar Airways flight at 1.30pm, an El Al Israeli airlines flight at 1.45pm, a Singapore Airlines flight at 5pm, and another Etihad Airways flight at 10.20pm,” he explained.
“Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha will visit the airport on July 1 to check the passenger screening process when the Singapore Airlines flight arrives,” Thanee said.
The airport expects 533 international passengers on the first day of reopening and estimates that more than 12,000 foreigners will visit Phuket in July.
Apart from presenting evidence of Covid-19 vaccinations and a negative test result, visitors to Phuket by air will have to undergo a swab test, thermo scanning and face scanning at the airport. They also have to install the Thailand Plus and Mor Chana tracing applications and allow their GPS to be tracked through the applications throughout their stay in Thailand.
Phuket has set up an emergency operations centre (EOC) at the airport to facilitate screening, testing and tracing of foreign tourists in the province.
“The EOC will function as a central unit to monitor tourists via mobile applications, which we have integrated into the Phuket smart city network to ensure coverage across the province,” Thanee added.
The province has also set up a screening unit at the Tha Chat Chai checkpoint for visitors who arrive by land and will employ similar measures to those at the airport.
