AOT’s plan to build smoking rooms in Suvarnabhumi goes up in smoke

The National Tobacco Control Committee has rejected the Airports of Thailand (AOT)’s proposal to build smoking rooms inside Suvarnabhumi Airport, with the public health minister declaring last week that building such rooms was against the law. 

However, officials have been appointed to assess the adequacy of existing outdoor smoking areas and to understand the structural concerns that led AOT to make this proposal. 

“We will not firmly oppose the proposal, but will address the issue under the learning-by-doing principles,” Public Health Minister Somsak Thepsuthin said. Prakit Vathesatogkit, executive secretary of Action on Smoking and Health Foundation, emphasised that the airport should remain 100% smoke-free, asserting that Thailand should lead globally on this issue. He noted that more than 100 airports worldwide are smoke-free and said that there is no evidence to suggest that smoking rooms within airports will attract more tourists to Thailand. 

He also noted that AOT’s proposal arose because the authority could not access the airport’s Satellite Terminal 1 (SAT-1) building to add three more smoking areas. 

“Passengers can take a train from the SAT-1 building back to the smoking area at the main building. It takes just one minute,” he said. 

The Thai Institute of Health Promotion has expressed concern over AOT’s proposal, warning that it could affect public health and Thailand’s image. It highlighted that the move would violate laws prohibiting smoking rooms in all airports in Thailand, which have been in place for the past seven years. It also emphasised that amending the laws to allow smoking rooms again would not be beneficial for the country, which is striving to establish standards for quality airports that are safe for everyone. 

Meanwhile, AOT president Kirati Kijmanawat said that reports of smoking violations in non-smoking areas and instances of passengers willingly paying fines just to smoke have negative impacts on non-smokers and the overall air quality inside terminals. 

Currently, Thailand’s airports are entirely smoke-free, in line with a global trend towards eliminating smoking in public spaces.

(2025/02/12-00:00)