The directive was issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) just before 8pm last night.
The directive came into effect today (May 19).
“Airline passengers will be refused travel to Phuket if their vaccination is incomplete or they do not have a test document for COVID-19,” the directive said.
“Previously, Phuket Province has taken measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus with rapid [antigen] tests being conducted at Phuket Airport, but the latest announcement by the [Phuket] Communicable Diseases Committee has canceled the process,” the CAAT noted.
“From 19 May 2021 onwards, passengers traveling by airline must present evidence to the airline staff from the originating airport.
“This is evidence of receiving two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, or a document confirming that COVID-19 was tested by RT-PCR or Antigen Rapid Test within 72 hours prior to the journey and had a negative test result.
“If [the passenger] is unable to show any evidence, the passenger will be denied travel by the airline.” the CAAT ordered.
The directive also noted that passengers travelling to Phuket must also have the MorChana app installed on their phone and have location sharing enabled on the app at all times for the duration of their stay in Phuket.
Passengers must also register their travel details through the www.gophuget.com web portal.
“This is in accordance with the resolution of the Phuket Communicable Disease Committee,” the CAAT directive noted.
“And in order to make the passenger’s journey to be orderly, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand requests passengers to check the announcements of the destination province before traveling to be able to comply with the measures of the destination province correctly and facilitate travel.
“They are also asked to strictly adhere to the measures of the Ministry of Public Health to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” the CAAT order said.
Of note, Phuket officials made no announcement of the mandatory document checks for flight passengers coming to Phuket following the meeting of the Phuket Communicable Disease Committee at Phuket Provincial Hall on Monday.
Instead, the media blitz that ensued focussed on the long queues of people at the one road checkpoint onto the island following the cancellation of the use of rapid antigen tests to allow people onto Phuket ‒ despite Phuket officials continuing to use the tests to allow people into Phuket by road for two days after the official order mandated that the rapid tests cease.
People arriving in Phuket by road unable to prove either requirement must now serve a 14-day quarantine, or stay in quarantine for their entire stay if their stay is less than 14 days, if they want to come into Phuket.
So far Phuket officials have not made any announcements regarding allowing people arriving at the airport to enter quarantine after arriving.
That option is currently available only to people arriving in Phuket by road.