Hua Hin Airport runway expansion to be completed by June 2022

[webfact]

 

By Online Reporter

 

A significant part of the work being carried out at Hua Hin airport should be completed within the next three months, it has been revealed.

 

According to Mr. Udorn Olsson, special advisor to the Ministry of Transport and Chairman of the Phoenix Aviation Group Thailand, the current construction work to bring the runway at Hua Hin Airport up to international standards should be completed by May or June 2022.

 

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In addition to the expansion of the runway, the airport terminal will then be renovated and expanded in order to accommodate both domestic and international tourists.

 

The expansion is part of the well publicised project to develop Hua Hin Airport into a fully functioning international airport.

 

Full story: https://www.huahintoday.com/local-news/hua-hin-airport-runway-expansion-to-be-completed-by-june-2022/

 

-- © Copyright Hua Hin Today 2022-03-10

 

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[KhunLA]

More wasted money to contractors & negotiator of.  When has air service ever worked to HH.  With a faster, better  train service going online 'soon-ish', it will be even more evident.

[wpcoe]

The linked article says that the load factor between Hua Hin and Chiang Mai is about 80%.

[Charlie Halliday]

16 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

More wasted money to contractors & negotiator of.  When has air service ever worked to HH.  With a faster, better  train service going online 'soon-ish', it will be even more evident.

Perhaps you hadn't noticed the changes in Hong Kong these past few years. Direct flights in and out of Hua Hin from Hong Kong, Singapore and other parts of the region will be successful. The world has also changed since covid. More travellers from the region rather than Europe. 

[KhunLA]

4 minutes ago, Charlie Halliday said:

Perhaps you hadn't noticed the changes in Hong Kong these past few years. Direct flights in and out of Hua Hin from Hong Kong, Singapore and other parts of the region will be successful. The world has also changed since covid. More travellers from the region rather than Europe. 

ASEAN always supplied more tourist than EU, the past couple decades, and not much changed there.  No air service has lasted more than a year or so, the past 20 yrs since I've been here.

[spidermike007]

Does anyone remember when a fortune was spent on Hua Hin airport years ago? I seem to remember it was also on the runway, and the terminal. Yet since, it has remained one of the least utilized airports in the world. We all know what the excuse used to be. It does not apply anymore. So, what gives? It has an ideal location for a regional airport, and should be serving at least a dozen locations in Thailand, including Bangkok. Plus it could be a regional hub for countless locales in Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Vietnam and elsewhere. Burma does not count anymore. 

 

Man up guys. Do your jobs. Let's get this done. 

[onekoolguy]

I'm happy to see the expanded service!

It's a long drive to Bangkok to get a flight.

 

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, wpcoe said:

The linked article says that the load factor between Hua Hin and Chiang Mai is about 80%.

80% of what flights ?  Does anyone even operate that route now ?

If so, how many flights, holding how many psgrs, and how many days a week do they operate?

[Usual Suspect]

About every 6 months there's a handful of local big-wigs from the tourism office/Amphur having their pics taken whilst yet another announcement about the airports pending future is unveiled..(with the promise of 1000's of tourists about to flock to/fill all the hotels)..

..What actually happens is that once the red carpet has been stashed away yet again, the airport almost shuts down to a state of mere 'tick-over'.

 I remember years ago (after it's 1st revamp to 'international status') I used to commute from H.H. to BKK & back aboard Bangkok Airways turboprop planes..a great service..The planes were en-route to Samui (& BKK) and it was a simple add-on to drop down into H.H. As always here, once it became popular H.H. airport hiked up it's landing fees, and BKK Airways simply gave them the finger and kept at their regular altitude..almost right over the airport to make a point... Maybe in years to come when the a/pt has it's own rail-siding/link for passenger shuttle to/from town, and a regular service of bigger jets are using it, not just one per week..then maybe it will have finally earn't it's 'international' status../

[Marvest]

Actually, upgrade of the Hua Hin airport was announced as part of the "Riviera Thailand" project in late 2018.  At that time, it was expected to take five years to complete.  So it will actually be finished ahead of schedule.  Air Asia was operating flights to Kuala Lumpur for several months before COVID.  And now there are flights to Chiang Mia with flights to Kuala Lumpur set to resume in June.  So I am optimistic about the future of the Hua Hin airport.  The mid-speed rail infrastructure will augment the tourist appeal of Hua Hin.  These things take time, but the future looks bright.

[KhunLA]

I searched, and could not find any current flights serving HH

 

Remember over the years here (20+), and every service, whether from DMK, UTH, SIN, KUL apparently failed miserably and all stopped operating after a season or 2.

 

I expect nothing else in the future, especially, if they keep overpricing the route, as in the past, kms per baht were a bit excessive.

[Soondae]

6 hours ago, Charlie Halliday said:

Perhaps you hadn't noticed the changes in Hong Kong these past few years. Direct flights in and out of Hua Hin from Hong Kong, Singapore and other parts of the region will be successful. The world has also changed since covid. More travellers from the region rather than Europe. 

Yes, and the KUL flights were very popular here as well. Now please restart the HHQ to UTH service, I remember those flights being full capacity pre-pandemic.

[wpcoe]

6 hours ago, KhunLA said:

80% of what flights ?  Does anyone even operate that route now ?

If so, how many flights, holding how many psgrs, and how many days a week do they operate?

The linked article said: 

 

Quote

Currently the flights between Hua Hin and Chiang Mai have an average passenger rate of approximately 80 percent per flight.

 

Currently, there are twice weekly flights on Thai Air Asia (Fridays & Sundays) between Hua Hin and Chiang Mai:

 

 

Thai Air Asia A320-200s (which I think is the model used on this route) have 180 seats. (Other Thai Asia A320 models have more seats.)

 

180 seats x 2x/wk x 80% = 288 passengers per week each way?

[wpcoe]

2 hours ago, KhunLA said:

I searched, and could not find any current flights serving HH

[KhunLA]

27 minutes ago, wpcoe said:

They operate 2 flights a week, hence the maybe, 80% capacity, on the smallest A320 100/200????

[KhunLA]

1 hour ago, wpcoe said:

The linked article said: 

 

 

Currently, there are twice weekly flights on Thai Air Asia (Fridays & Sundays) between Hua Hin and Chiang Mai:

 

 

Thai Air Asia A320-200s (which I think is the model used on this route) have 180 seats. (Other Thai Asia A320 models have more seats.)

 

180 seats x 2x/wk x 80% = 288 passengers per week each way?

288 a week, and this is high season ... ????

 

And you think those numbers are good ?  All of 15k a year.  Hua Hin & Thailand are saved.

[wpcoe]

14 hours ago, wpcoe said:

The linked article says that the load factor between Hua Hin and Chiang Mai is about 80%.

 

4 hours ago, KhunLA said:

288 a week, and this is high season ... ????

 

And you think those numbers are good ?  All of 15k a year.  Hua Hin & Thailand are saved.

I was simply pointing out a statistic that I found surprising.  From an airline economics standpoint, an 80% load factor on what I considered an obscure routing seemed pretty good.

[KhunLA]

2 minutes ago, wpcoe said:

I was simply pointing out a statistic that I found surprising.  From an airline economics standpoint, an 80% load factor on what I considered an obscure routing seemed pretty good.

New-blips have a tendency to leave out lots of details, and 80% does sound nice, although not mention of 2 flight a week.  3 or 4 a day, everyday, would be newsworthy.  

 

See how things are in April, when they up it to 9 flights a week.  80% would be nice, especially since many, most airlines need something like 70+% load factor, just to break even.  Good luck with that.

 

With the cost of petrol, flying may be a better option for many, especially if only 1 or 2 in the party, depending on fare structure.  I always found flights to HH more expensive than Phuket fares.  

[soi3eddie]

A tourist Hoppa flight might seem to be most likely to have sufficient demand via HH. A few airport options with brief hops might make the airport viable. HHQ/CNX makes sense as it's long way. How about Phuket, Samui, U-Tapao, Hua Hin on some kind of loop? IMO that would most likely be the best option of filling planes. Can't see much justification for B777/A330s to/from anywhere at Hua Hin so why lengthen the runway?

 

[Marvest]

On 3/10/2022 at 7:27 PM, KhunLA said:

288 a week, and this is high season ... ????

 

And you think those numbers are good ?  All of 15k a year.  Hua Hin & Thailand are saved.

Yes, 80% capacity is excellent in the airline industry right now.  Two flights per week is pretty good as well considering it's only been five weeks since T&G restarted. And it's now past high season. I predict it will slowly continue to improve and next high season will be measuring better. The future looks bright.