U-tapao Airport To Be Renamed Pattaya International Airport

[Mobi]

Work begins on U-tapao upgrade

Writer: BOONSONG KOSITCHOTETHANA

Work is finally under way to upgrade U-tapao, the Navy-operated airport that played a vital role in ferrying home 100,000 passengers stranded by the Bangkok airport blockades late last year.

The Royal Thai Navy has a budget of 995 million baht for the expansion that includes building a new passenger terminal, improving taxiways, fuel depots, firefighting systems, X-ray machines, cargo units and other facilities.

The upgrade had been planned for years but only approved recently as the government saw an urgent need to have an alternate airport in case of emergency shutdowns of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports.

Protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) threw aviation and tourism into chaos in late November last year when they seized the two Bangkok airports for eight days

The scale of the upgrade of U-tapao, located 190 km southeast of Bangkok in an area bordering Chon Buri's Sattahip district and Rayong's Ban Chang district, will be modest. But it is considered adequate for emergency use.

The new passenger terminal will be nearly four times the size of the existing one and capable of handling 1,500 passengers per hour, compared to 400 now.

The new terminal deals with the most significant bottleneck at U-tapao, which was stretched well beyond its limit when thousands of fleeing passengers scrambled to get flights out of Thailand during the PAD protests.

U-tapao's runway is 3,505 metres long and 60 metres wide, with an apron capable of parking 49 aircraft, considered adequate for use in a crisis.

The airport is still home of the Royal Thai Navy First Air Wing and during the Vietnam War it was a frontline base for B-52 Stratofortress bombers of the United States Air Force.

According to Rear Adm Surapong Ayasanond, the U-tapao deputy director, the new two-storey terminal will be modelled on that of Phitsanulok Airport and will handle both domestic and international passengers.

The existing single-storey terminal, covering 2,610 square metres, will be used for military, VIP and private planes. It has been largely unused since the two Bangkok airports resumed operations.

U-tapao now serves a few domestic scheduled flights per day, mainly Bangkok Airways' ATR-72 turboprops between U-tapao and Samui and Phuket, in addition to a small number of chartered flights from Russia.

The Navy's Civil Engineering Department is now designing the new terminal and tenders are expected to be called in the first quarter of next year.

"Toward the end of next year, the upgrade should be up and running. That's the mandate given to us," said Rear Adm Surapong.

Aside from serving as an alternate to Suvarnabhumi, U-tapao will be used as a gateway to Pattaya, 23 km away, bringing international passengers directly to the resort, bypassing Suvarnabhumi.

It will be renamed U-tapao Pattaya International Airport to link its identity with the resort city and promote its tourism industry. Pattaya Mayor Itthiphol Khunplome was recently named to the U-tapao's board

Bangkok Post

[doggie888888]

Does anyone know: flghts from/to where internationally? Great news, saves the long drive to Suvarnabhumi.

[moo9]

I assume it will be mainly charter flights going there.

I do not expect Lufthansa or other major airlines to fly directly to PIA, because BKK is the hub and still only 1 - 1.5 hrs drive away from PTY.

[PattayaParent]

Maybe we'll be able to get flights from Bangkok to PIA in the future?

[Phil Conners]

Isn't it about the same distance?

[syd barrett]

From central Pattaya, let's say Soi 7/8, the fastest journey time to Suvarnabhumphi was 1 hour 16 minutes. To U-Tapou the fastest journey time was 51 minutes.

So what is the big deal about saving 25 minutes journey time?

Far better would be to extend the overhead rail-link from BKK airport to Pattaya. I bet journey time could be about 45 minutes then.

[bdenner]

Will probably continue to handle all those relic, oil dripping, flying junk yard charters from Russia and the Ex Soviet block countries but I certainly hope it's used better than the new 'so called' Udon Thani International terminal which only caters for a 15 minute flight to Vientiane. What a waste of money that was!

[THAILIBAN]

Will probably continue to handle all those relic, oil dripping, flying junk yard charters from Russia and the Ex Soviet block countries but I certainly hope it's used better than the new 'so called' Udon Thani International terminal which only caters for a 15 minute flight to Vientiane. What a waste of money that was!

why is it a waste of money to upgrade an old and ageing airport to a contemporary standard ?

that has nothing to do with domestic or international. what nonsense it would have been to not upgrade the entire facility, only parts of it.....

the UDON airport is lovely nowadays.....

[pattaya_girl]

I flew to Koh Samui from U-Tapao Airport 9 Years ago, it was a nice little Airport.

Took a long time to get there though, from Pattaya.

[Gary A]

From central Pattaya, let's say Soi 7/8, the fastest journey time to Suvarnabhumphi was 1 hour 16 minutes. To U-Tapou the fastest journey time was 51 minutes.

So what is the big deal about saving 25 minutes journey time?

Far better would be to extend the overhead rail-link from BKK airport to Pattaya. I bet journey time could be about 45 minutes then.

You are very optimistic from Suvarnabhumi and very pessimistic from Utapao. It's 125 kilometers versus about 48 kilometers.

[Mobi]

From central Pattaya, let's say Soi 7/8, the fastest journey time to Suvarnabhumphi was 1 hour 16 minutes. To U-Tapou the fastest journey time was 51 minutes.

So what is the big deal about saving 25 minutes journey time?

Far better would be to extend the overhead rail-link from BKK airport to Pattaya. I bet journey time could be about 45 minutes then.

You are very optimistic from Suvarnabhumi and very pessimistic from Utapao. It's 125 kilometers versus about 48 kilometers.

Well the Bangkok Post article says that U-tapao is 23 kms away, but I think that is not correct.

Hm... times to drive there?

The other day I drove from my home in Pong (2 minutes from the Rayong highway, 18 kms East of central Pattaya)) to Suvarnabhumi in 45 minutes and was in Soi Nana, Sukhumvit, Bangkok in exactly 1 hour. My on board computer told me I had travelled 136 kms at an average speed of 136 km/hr! (Well the roads are very good, and were very quiet.)

I would say I could drive to Suvarnabhumi from Central Pattaya in about 1 hour, by taking the 'local' road, rather than fighting through the traffic on Sukhumvit.

I have not tried the journey to U-tapao, but my average speed would be much slower as the traffic would always be heavier and number of traffic light junctions would be much more frequent.

In conclusion I would guess that Syd Barrett is not too far wrong, although I would have to put it to the test to be sure.

Maybe the next time a take a trip to Bang Chang for lunch in the Camel, I'll take a detour to U-Tapao to check it out

[bdenner]

the UDON airport is lovely nowadays.....

Yep very lovely Terminal but grossly underused, the old Terminal (wasn't all that old anyway) coped quite well and could still do so today. The funds could have been much better spent elsewhere --- lets say a new wing on the Udon Public Hospital -- Been there lately????

[monty]

Maybe the next time a take a trip to Bang Chang for lunch in the Camel, I'll take a detour to U-Tapao to check it out

Food must be excellent in that soi to travel the distance to Ban Chang :D

[Mobi]

Maybe the next time a take a trip to Bang Chang for lunch in the Camel, I'll take a detour to U-Tapao to check it out

Food must be excellent in that soi to travel the distance to Ban Chang

It's only a 20 minute drive from where I live

[NanLaew]

... I certainly hope it's used better than the new 'so called' Udon Thani International terminal which only caters for a 15 minute flight to Vientiane. What a waste of money that was!

Udon International saved me time & money during last years airport 'troubles'. I was coming back from work in Vietnam so Lao Airlines from Hanoi via Luang Prabang did the trick for me.

The U-Tapao upgrade is only for emergencies which makes sense since bad weather at BKK would probably mean DMK is also ruled out and the nearest in-country alternate would then be CNX. It will also pick up any resurgence in budget and charter operators once the recession is over and short-term memory prevails and the tourists come flooding back.

PS. If you drove to Ban Chang, then you would have driven past the back door of U-Tapao so 30 minutes is a comfortable door-to-door drive time from Pattaya.

PPS. There's a One-Two-Go Boeing 747 languishing at Udon airport. I wonder where that came from?

Edited September 3, 2009 by NanLaew

[NanLaew]

Maybe the next time a take a trip to Bang Chang for lunch in the Camel, I'll take a detour to U-Tapao to check it out

Food must be excellent in that soi to travel the distance to Ban Chang :D

It truly is Monty. And now that Lasse has opened his restaurant, there's more than just his sublime pizza's to savour.

[Rimmer]

Maybe the next time a take a trip to Bang Chang for lunch in the Camel, I'll take a detour to U-Tapao to check it out

Food must be excellent in that soi to travel the distance to Ban Chang :D

Yep it's worth the journey IMHO the food is probably better than anywhere in Pattaya though a little more expensive.

As a matter of interest the journey from my hovel at Phoenix to Utapao takes 15 minutes straight down the 331. If you go via Sattahip the journey time doubles, add that to the time it takes from Pattaya to Phoenix and you have probably 30 minutes total journey time.

[SHYTALK]

A couple of years back I was on a Thai flight into Bangkok, cannot remember if Don Muang or swampy.

Capt came on and said we would have to circle 20 mins to allow other VIP traffic in to land?

After 20 mins the Capt came back on and said we would continue to circle a bit longer.

After a further 20 mins the Capt was back on saying fuel was low ,he couldn' t land in Bkk and he would have to divert to "Rayong airport" to land.

I dont know if the "Rayong airport" was in fact U-Tapo.Probably was about 20mins flight from Bkk.It looked a dump.

So he landed at this airport and refuelled and after an hour took off again for Bkk.Everyone was pissed off nobody could leave the plane which was hot.

Several other large aircraft were on the tarmac also.

Always wondered what the safety backup was at this place in case anything happened.

my g/f wasn't best pleased either as she had to wait 3 hours in the Bkk airport LOL.

Anyway , <deleted> , don't tell the looney yellowshirts about this development.