The Friendship Highway, the main artery between Bangkok and northeastern provinces, has been congested since this morning, as tens of thousands of people have either been heading home or to holiday centres to celebrate the New Year break.
Suvarnabhumi international airport was crowded with passengers both leaving the capital and arriving from overseas this morning. The main Mo Chit bus terminal gets congested later in the day, as most bus passengers are expected to travel overnight to far-flung corners of the Kingdom.
Highway police report that the Friendship Highway in Klang Dong of Nakhon Ratchasima has been packed with vehicles since last night, as revellers left Bangkok early in the hope of getting ahead of the crowd.
Traffic was unusually congested is at KM 42 in Klong Dong, where motorists and their passengers have been breaking the journey to buy fruit.
At the First Friendship Bridge, in Mueang district of Nong Khai, many migrant workers from Laos were gathering at the immigration checkpoint, waiting to travel home for the long New Year break.
Kirati Kijmanawat, CEO of Airports of Thailand (AOT), estimated that about 230,000 passengers of many nationalities, including Thais, are using Suvarnabhumi international each day during the holidays.
He said that AOT has streamlined the immigration process, to enable arriving passengers get through easily using a biometric system.
Don Mueang airport will also be congested during the long holidays, especially between 5 and 7am, said Kirati, adding that AOT have increased staff by about 30% to cope with the increased workload.
He estimated about 100,000 passengers are using the airport each day during the holidays, an increase of about 19% over last year.
