About 10,000 items of passenger luggage were left stranded at airports following flight disruptions at Thai Airways, with about 8,000 still awaiting processing as the airline works to clear the backlog, Transport Minister Pipat Ratchakitprakarn said yesterday.
Speaking after chairing an urgent meeting, Pipat said the bags had been left behind following disruptions between September 26 and 28, with Thai Airways currently able to process about 2,000 bags a day.
The baggage chaos was caused by disruptions to Thai Airways’ operations amid heavy rainfall and flooding, which led to flight cancellations and schedule changes. The chaos was also caused by a shortage of ground-handling staff who were unable to get to work because of the flooding.
The resulting accumulation of passengers and bags overwhelmed the airline’s baggage-handling capacity, leaving thousands of bags awaiting sorting and delivery.
Pipat said the airline is expected to take another three to four days to clear the backlog.
The Transport Ministry has coordinated with the Royal Thai Air Force to provide an additional 100 personnel to help speed up the handling and transportation of the bags.
Pipat said Thai Airways staff will remain responsible for sorting the bags because they have the necessary expertise, while the additional personnel will help with lifting and transportation.
He said the airline is contacting passengers once their bags have been identified. Passengers can either collect their bags from Suvarnabhumi Airport or have them mailed to them through Thailand Post.
Pipat said there had been no additional baggage backlog since September 29, after Thai Airways adjusted its flight schedule and baggage-handling operations. Authorities are also working to assist passengers affected by cancelled or rescheduled flights.
Thai Airways CEO Chai Eamsiri said about 90% of passenger-facing staff and 80% of operational staff have returned to work. He added, however, that the airline still needs to deal with the accumulated workload from the period of disruption.
Thai Airways normally operates about 115 flights a day. It reduced the number of flights by 28 when the problems began and plans to operate about 100 flights on October 1 and 105 on October 2.
Chai said the airline expects to return to its normal level of about 115 flights a day within a week.
Meanwhile, Pipat said a meeting had concluded that Thai Airways will not suspend its inbound and outbound cargo services. Some stages of the operation may be slowed down, however, to manage space and gradually clear the cargo backlog.
This reverses an earlier decision by Thai Airways to suspend inbound and outbound cargo services from October 1 to 6.
