Utapao Airport To Be Upgraded

[bluesmith]

Did any body read in the Pattaya Mail about the proposed upgrade at Utapao airport I hope it is not pie in the sky stuff it would sure make a weekend trip to or from Pattaya more worth while.

May be a high speed rail from Suvarnabhumi Airport would be ok all so. It would surely bring more tourists to Thailand and bring more employment also. It would be much more safer than doing 160km per hour in a taxi or bus.

bluey

[londonthai]

was discussed a few weeks ago - no talk about the rail link. Utapao will be used mainly by the tourists to pattaya and the south east, unless there is an emergency, like closure of bangkok airports.

if somebody travels to bangkok they would go there directly

[QED]

Don't know if you've been to Utapao, Bluey, but it still takes 45-60 mins to get into Pattaya. With Swampy now only about 1hr 20 mins on a good run there is not much benefit really.

I know it is often referred to as Pattaya airport, but this is something of a misnomer.

[tvaddict]

45-60 mins from utapao to pattaya?

you must have been going to dolphin roundabout or something !!

as you know it can easily take as much as 30 minutes to get across pattaya itself-

yesterday i st in traffic on pattaya tai between 3rd road and 2nd road for 15 minutes-

they really need to sort out the traffic problem in pattaya

the distance from sattahip to pattaya only needs 20 minutes

utapao needs another 5 minutes

i live in ban chang- from here to pattaya is only 40 minutes

utapao is closer

anyway -- i agree with the poster who points out that with suvarnibum airport only 80 minutes away there simply isn't enough need to make the upgrade worth it

it will never happen

although there probably is a lot of money to be made from charging airlines money to park their planes and to fuel up and then you've got associated costs-- employment for the taxi drivers, the shop keepers, the KFC,the duty free, the security, the cleaners , etc-- and ofcourse the increased need for accomodation and standard services

i bet you there is a lot of money to be made and as pattaya operates it's own budget seperate from bkk and has some autonomy the mayor and friends are probably seeing big dollar signs flashing before their eyes

so if greed / business opportunity is the motivator then maybe it will happen after all- just depends on which people with which interests can be offered/ promised/ compensated a slice of the takings in a new venture

as always it will come down to networking and dealing between those with power-- if they can agree how to profit personally from the contracts and share out the monies then it may well happen after all

however a fast train link up to bkk is far more useful for us all really-- ( but probably not such a big money spinner for the powers that be)

[chiangmaikelly]

Don't know if you've been to Utapao, Bluey, but it still takes 45-60 mins to get into Pattaya. With Swampy now only about 1hr 20 mins on a good run there is not much benefit really.

I know it is often referred to as Pattaya airport, but this is something of a misnomer.

In the afternoon it takes 1 to 2 hours to go by bus from Sattahip (Utapao) to Pattaya. They stop a lot. An express bus would be 40 to 60 min.

[Basil B]

For those on the Jomtien side of Pattaya, 30 mins by car, easy.

[longball53098]

I doubt the military (Navy) will ever let Utapao open up much more than it already is. They control all the land use in the area.

[Kerryd]

They should pave the DarkSide and set up a Pattaya Airport there.

(With an overhead tram route direct to WS. )

[londonthai]

navy wants some money for the land they own - hence they do promote expantion of utapao. It will have to be approved by the government

[tvaddict]

i just checked out the distance on google maps using the directions facility-

from utapao to pattaya tai/ sukhumvit junction is

41 km

depending on the route you choose this can be done in

30 minutes

obviously the simple route of follow the sukhumvit around and through sattahip is not a good choice

as i said before -- from ban chang to pattaya is 40 minutes-- i do it often

but you need to know the route-

eg the silverlake vineyard route or the phoenix golf course route

anyway if they upgrade the airport they'll want to do a rail link too to make sure all come into pattaya to spend their money and not go somewhere else

[expatgaz]

I've recently been to and from both airports.Jomtien - Utopao 40 minutes.Jomtien - Svarnibhumi 1hr 10.

[torrenova]

Yeah, with Don Muang there was a much greater argument but Swampy to Pattaya is a doddle most days. As there is no parking at U-Tapao then you need taxis and because they have no return fare, they want an arm and a leg and are nearly as expensive as the Swampy (Bangkok taxi) drivers.

Trains will never come. They cannot make them pay i the west on a ROI basis over capital expenditure life and no-one will pay Narita Express fares in LOS !