U-Tapao Airport is Pretty Dead

[Danderman123]

There's always a news story about government plans to invest billions of baht Real Soon Now in UTP airport. New terminals, high speed rail, that sort of thing.

 

But the reality is that UTP is sadly underused, just a handful of flights. Prior to expensive upgrades, they should try to use what already exists. No reason there aren't flights from Pattaya to Isaan.

Edited July 1, 2023 by Danderman123

[The Fugitive]

2 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

There's always a news story about government plans to invest billions of baht Real Soon Now. New terminals, high speed rail, that sort of thing.

 

But the reality is that UTP is sadly underused, just a handful of flights. Prior to expensive upgrades, they should try to use what already exists. No reason there aren't flights from Pattaya to Isaan.

Prior to Covid there was a direct flight to UK. I have flown from Khon Kaen but, alas, no longer. 

[Sandboxer]

I started commuting on the Bangkok Airways flight between HKT and UTP on a weekly basis recently, love it. Door to door from my condos in Pattaya/Patong in about 4 hours.

[NextG]

41 minutes ago, Danderman123 said:

There's always a news story about government plans to invest billions of baht Real Soon Now in UTP airport. New terminals, high speed rail, that sort of thing.

 

But the reality is that UTP is sadly underused, just a handful of flights. Prior to expensive upgrades, they should try to use what already exists. No reason there aren't flights from Pattaya to Isaan.

No customers, that’s why. If they could fill the aircraft they would. But just you and a couple of others every now and again won’t be enough. 

[Henryford]

I think part of the problem with UTP is getting there. No rail link, is there a regular, cheap bus link? not that i know of. Must be the only major airport in the world with no transport links. We can wait for the high speed train ha ha in 2100.

Edited July 2, 2023 by Henryford

[Danderman123]

2 hours ago, Henryford said:

I think part of the problem with UTP is getting there. No rail link, is there a regular, cheap bus link? not that i know of. Must be the only major airport in the world with no transport links. We can wait for the high speed train ha ha in 2100.

Bolt cost me 500 baht yesterday.

[liddelljohn]

When flights from Cheap to land at UTapao were available to UK they were on average 8,000 baht or £180 more expensive than going to Bangkok  terminals ,, as far as I was concerned that was not justified,, and a rip off

[thepanom]

Same thing with Hua Hin airport, a lot of talking about flights to Singapore and KL, but so far only flights to Chiangmai

[Guderian]

23 minutes ago, liddelljohn said:

When flights from Cheap to land at UTapao were available to UK they were on average 8,000 baht or £180 more expensive than going to Bangkok  terminals ,, as far as I was concerned that was not justified,, and a rip off

Yes, and the cost of getting a taxi to and from U-Tapao isn't much less than the cost of getting one to and from Swampy. Plus Swampy has regular, cheap bus services from Pattaya (like the airport bus in Jomtien), while I'm not aware of any regular, cheap tourist buses going to U-Tapao (of course, that may be a chicken and egg situation, lol). Then for those of us who like to treat ourselves and fly in business, Swampy has some wonderful airline lounges which we're unlikely to see duplicated at U-Tapao as it will never have the volume of business traffic that Bangkok has, Eastern Economic Corridor or not.

[Danderman123]

1 minute ago, Guderian said:

Yes, and the cost of getting a taxi to and from U-Tapao isn't much less than the cost of getting one to and from Swampy. Plus Swampy has regular, cheap bus services from Pattaya (like the airport bus in Jomtien), while I'm not aware of any regular, cheap tourist buses going to U-Tapao (of course, that may be a chicken and egg situation, lol). Then for those of us who like to treat ourselves and fly in business, Swampy has some wonderful airline lounges which we're unlikely to see duplicated at U-Tapao as it will never have the volume of business traffic that Bangkok has, Eastern Economic Corridor or not.

I pay Bolt 500 baht to go to U-Tapao, and with the new motorway, it's a short ride.

 

I pay 1000+ baht to go to Suvarnaphumi.

[blackshadow]

19 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

There's always a news story about government plans to invest billions of baht Real Soon Now in UTP airport. New terminals, high speed rail, that sort of thing.

 

But the reality is that UTP is sadly underused, just a handful of flights. Prior to expensive upgrades, they should try to use what already exists. No reason there aren't flights from Pattaya to Isaan.

DEPENDS ON NUMBER of fliers to Issan

[Moonlover]

33 minutes ago, blackshadow said:

DEPENDS ON NUMBER of fliers to Issan

I live in Issan and you couldn't temp me to fly to Pattaya if the fares were zero!

[daveAustin]

3 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

I live in Issan and you couldn't temp me to fly to Pattaya if the fares were zero!

You couldn’t tempt me with either place. ????

But it’s a shame it’s so underused. Would take the strain off Suvarnabhumi if folks could go ‘directly’ to Pattaya. 

Edited July 2, 2023 by daveAustin

[The Fugitive]

10 minutes ago, Moonlover said:

I live in Issan and you couldn't temp me to fly to Pattaya if the fares were zero!

All a matter of opinion and choices. Pattaya isn't only LK Metro. Personally, I like it and much prefer Patts to Phuket.

[scorecard]

20 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

There's always a news story about government plans to invest billions of baht Real Soon Now in UTP airport. New terminals, high speed rail, that sort of thing.

 

But the reality is that UTP is sadly underused, just a handful of flights. Prior to expensive upgrades, they should try to use what already exists. No reason there aren't flights from Pattaya to Isaan.

Seems to me the major problem is the location of the airport. It's not that close to Pattaya, perhaps many folks notice this and say 'never mind, Swampy is good enough - Swampy is not that far from Pattaya'. And lenty of bus/ taxi srvice vialble for quick departure to Pattaya.

 

Several years back I took a flight to Utapao.

Airport website mentioned plenty of transport options to Pattaya. 

 

On arrival one mini bus, about 3,000Baht to Pattaya, several folks in serious argument with mini van owner who wouldn't budge his price, and wait 2 hrs for next incoming flight before departure from the airport.

 

I called a friend in Pattaya, he got a Thai friend with a car to quickly  come out to the airport and bring me to Pattaya, 1,000Baht. I used his service. 

 

This airport now not on my agenda. 

Edited July 2, 2023 by scorecard

[h90]

20 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

There's always a news story about government plans to invest billions of baht Real Soon Now in UTP airport. New terminals, high speed rail, that sort of thing.

 

But the reality is that UTP is sadly underused, just a handful of flights. Prior to expensive upgrades, they should try to use what already exists. No reason there aren't flights from Pattaya to Isaan.

You make the upgrades so you can pocket 10% corruption not to help some farangs....There would be no profit in using existing things.

[h90]

Weren't there flights from Russia before the war? Maybe they got less?

[Danderman123]

21 minutes ago, h90 said:

Weren't there flights from Russia before the war? Maybe they got less?

There are still flights from Russia, but it's seasonal.

[blackshadow]

6 hours ago, Moonlover said:

I live in Issan and you couldn't temp me to fly to Pattaya if the fares were zero!

why not nowt wrong wi eeet

[KhunBENQ]

Come on!

It's an international hub.

Flights to Dubai and Macau (!).

Guess what demand the latter one serves

Absolutely stunning: I found one flight out of the 6AM to 6PM slot:

23:15 (11:15 PM) to Dubai.

So there must be a small group of immigration officers who are shuttled to UTP for this late night flight (only international flight on this day).

Reminds me of the "Immigration Desk" at Khon Kaen airport. Yes there is one.

 

I didn't find Russia flights anymore.

Edited July 2, 2023 by KhunBENQ

[KhunBENQ]

5 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

There are still flights from Russia, but it's seasonal.

There is always a chance that flightstats(.com) misses charter flights.

But as written with this site nothing found.

And what deeper offseason for Pattaya can there be than now.

[KhunBENQ]

6 hours ago, daveAustin said:

Would take the strain off Suvarnabhumi if folks could go ‘directly’ to Pattaya. 

With all respect and not scaling down Pattaya but for Suvarnabhumi the Pattaya transit is not a huge junk. You would hardly notice.

 

[bkk6060]

It is not a major airport.

I go to CNX quite often I disagree with the time comparison with BKK.  The other day on the new highway that connects to the 7, it took me 34 minutes to get to Pattaya from UTP.  BKK is at least twice that. I pay 700 b private car.  Make sure to tell the driver to take the highway, not Sukhumvit.  Some will stupidity take Sukhumvit to save the 30 b toll fee.

It is under utilized,  but the EEC at some point will start to materialize and that airport will get busy.  The high speed train is many years away I bet.

[Heng]

Flew to Samui from UTP the other day.... the departures board was my flight in the afternoon and a flight to Dubai late in the evening.   The airport staff and ATC there probably get to watch a lot of TikTok.  

[digbeth]

4-5 years ago I used to go to Chiang Mai regularly from there, when they still used the old terminal buildings, 
since then the road connection has got better with the hwy 7 extensions opened, before I had to use the 331 to drive down there

but after covid, many flight had not returned, like Air Asia, looks like Thai Lion Air only has one flight to Chiangmai

Taxi situation to get to Pattaya hasn't improved either

[Henryford]

21 hours ago, Danderman123 said:

Bolt cost me 500 baht yesterday.

Of course, you can get a taxi anywhere but should travellors have no other choice?

[Srikcir]

The Navy recrived

[murraynz]

22 hours ago, The Fugitive said:

All a matter of opinion and choices. Pattaya isn't only LK Metro. Personally, I like it and much prefer Patts to Phuket.

Pattaya, to me,  is far far better than Phuket, certainly less ripoffs. 

[Burma Bill]

17 hours ago, KhunBENQ said:

Reminds me of the "Immigration Desk" at Khon Kaen airport. Yes there is one.

Very much so, and I used it regularly for all my Air Asia Fly-Thru flights to Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Burma.

Very handy indeed - avoided the Immigration queues at DMK. The service at Khon Kaen was paid for by Air Asia for its "Fly-Thru" international passengers ONLY. Of interest to me, the desk was often manned by my local  "friendly" Immigration Officer. This was pre-pandemic.

[MarcelV]

Has UTP ever been anything but dead? And the local honchos keep talking crap about it becoming a third Bangkok gateway. Really? ????