Thai Airways to recruit 1,000 ground staff at Suvarnabhumi airport to handle airport baggage

BANGKOK - Thai Airways International is recruiting about 1,000 ground workers, mainly to tackle delays in luggage handling at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, its acting CEO Suvadhana Sibunruang said on Wednesday.

Mr Suvadhana admitted that it took more than 30 minutes to handle one flight’s luggage at Suvarnabhumi airport earlier in 2022 and that some flights were delayed due to slow luggage handling.

He said the carrier realises this is an issue and is recruiting more staff to deal with it.

About 1,000 positions are open at the carrier’s Suvarnabhumi operations. These are positions for ground services, including baggage handlers, drivers of vehicles in the airport and kitchen staff, he said.

“(Thai Airways) is recruiting employees to fill ground positions to meet the rising number of passengers,” Mr Suvadhana said. “The new recruits will have to undergo training for four or five weeks in line with the regulations of the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand.”

He said he is confident that during the long New Year holidays, Thai Airways ground staff would be able to handle baggage efficiently and would do it within a 30-minute per-flight limit.

Currently, Thai Airways provides 80 per cent of ground operations for flights at Suvarnabhumi.

Asked to comment on a report that the Transport Ministry may select a new ground service operator to take about 40 per cent of this work from the company, Mr Suvadhana said a new company might face the same issues Thai Airways did, so it would be useless to reduce its operation at the airport.

Mr Suvadhana replied that the delays earlier in 2022 were caused by staff shortages in the aviation industry as a whole.

THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK