QUEUING for Phuket airport's baggage scanning facilities was ''not so long as in the past,'' the airport's General Manager, Prathuang Sornkham, told the Phuket ''Parliament'' this week.

The speed with which passengers can move through Immigration and Customs at the airport has been a concern of honorary consuls and embassy representatives at the previous three meetings with the Phuket Governor and island leaders so far this year.

Germany's honorary consul, Dirk Naumann, asked how the number of Customs officers today compared with two years ago.

Wing Commander Prathuang said that two years ago there were 10 Immigration counters, and there are now 17. The number of officers had been increased from 50 to 70, with 10 more on the way, he said.

A special procedure had been put in place to speed the passage of visitors from the nearby Asean countries, where a long wait after a short flight appears to be unreasonable.

Australian Honorary Consul Larry Cunningham urged a ''flexible staffing policy'' so that more staff could be allocated whenever a number of aircraft landed around the same time.

With Phuket airport arrival and departure numbers certain to surpass seven million this calendar year, long waits for processing at the airport become a turn-off for tourists.

A major construction project to enlarge the airport's capacity to 12.5 million arrivals and departures is set to begin as soon as a construction contract has been agreed, but the rate of arrivals is likely to test handling capacity before the new terminal opens.