Phuket International Airport Deputy Manager Soonthorn Sakdawasit revealed the information in a press conference held at Phuket Provincial Hall on Tuesday (July 6).
“During the first five days of July we have welcomed 1,896 arrivals from abroad, and today (July 6) there are 236 more arrivals scheduled on five separate flights,” Mr Soonthorn said.
“We have received requests from 33 airlines informing us that they want to operate flights to Phuket from July through to the end of October. Among these airlines, 10 have filed requests to operate in July and 17 more in August,” he said.
It was not disclosed which airlines in particular had made the requests or from which countries they would be travelling.
However, Mr Soonthorn did confirm that approximately 14,000 have flights booked to come to Phuket between the July to October period.
“If we can contain the COVID outbreak to a minimal number of infected cases going into the high season then we hope that people will gain increasing confidence and even more flights will be scheduled to Phuket,” he added.
“However, we do not anticipate number returning to the pre-pandemic figures anytime soon due to the ongoing battle with and impact of COVID in countries all over the world,” he concluded.
In the same press conference the number of Certificate of Entry (COE) applications lodged so far was also revealed by a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“Since we opened the application process for COE entry we have received about 13,000 applicants,” said Kosin Ponmang, Chief of the Phuket Passport Office under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“So far a total of 4,068 applications have been approved, and 2,132 have come to the island.
“Today [July 6] we have approved 236 applicants, comprising 45 Thais and 191 foreign nationals,” he concluded.