U-Tapao to become Bangkok's 3rd commercial airport

[outre99]

And the only one with properly built runways, thanks to the <deleted>. Nearly 50 year old runways with nary a crack to be found, contrasted to Swampy whose runways were closed for major repairs before its 2nd birthday.

Maybe that has something to do with the amount of traffic and the weight of the loads the runways receive?

How many AB 380 AB340, AB 330, B777, B767, B787, B747 land at Utapao on any given day? UTP had 10 commercial jet arrivals/departures today, all Cessna or ATR 72. In contrast BKK has approximately 800 flights a day, of mostly heavy jets.

Yes, BKK had some serious problems, but they were addressed. Show me any airport surface that can withstand a daily pounding year in, year out without surface fatigue.

Yes, I know your point was to show that the US engineered airport stood up etc. However, even US airports have their problems over time.

You know Andrews AFB in Maryland? It developed a significant dip (2" deep) on Runway 1L/19R . It was caused by water infiltrating the pavement system and transporting soil particles through a leaking culvert underlying the runway. It was fixed.

How refreshing to read a well reasoned and supported post by somebody who knows what they are talking about. My hat off to you sir.

[daiwill60]

Why does the Thai navy own an airport?

Because they can't get a submarine?

That's like asking why do Navy's have aircraft carriers , isn't it ? and yes Thailand does have one of them.

[daiwill60]

So what will the Airforce and the Navy do with their planes? - or will we have to wait whilst they carry out their important military flights without notice?

I see no mention of a rail link - just the prospect of another 3 to 4 years of road works as local routes are upgraded.

Development - big hotels, air planes landing all right next to the Thai military arsenals and the Petro-Chemical Industries biggest installations - boy they really know how to get all the ingredients together for a major air disaster!

It would be ironic if Laos airlines were to use the place - At least they will have a lovely long runway, built with the aid of the US so that B52s could take off with a full bomb payload and drop them indiscriminately upon the Plain of Jars and other scenic parts of Laos....

It will just be a joint-use (military and commercial) airport like it already is, but the commercial share will increase. Military and commercial aircraft will use the runaway but there will be different aircraft ramp parking and hangars. Lots of major and minor joint-use airports around the world. Heck, Don Muaeng Airport Bangkok has been like that forever.

You will notice that it is already known as U-tapao International , this is because commercial flights to / from Russia have been operating in and out of there for quite some time already.

[mgjackson69]

Well hold on just a minute...when Suvarnabhumi was opened (after stripping almost all of the equipment from Don Muaeng) it was going to meet Thailand's air traffic needs for the next <pick a number> years.

I think it was less than two years later that they were re-equipping Don Muaeng and moving domestic flights over there.

[aripengu]

Kan Air is already flying to U-Tapao.

[ratcatcher]

Why does the Thai navy own an airport?

Because they can't get a submarine?

That's like asking why do Navy's have aircraft carriers , isn't it ? and yes Thailand does have one of them.

Indeed, Thailand does actually have an aircraft carrier , the Chakri Naruebet, (ex Spanish Armada) but do they have any operational planes to carry on it, when it's not chained to the dock, that is.

[Bcgardener]

I live next to Utapao and the news may not be so good for me, luckily I'm not under the flightpath. I stand to be corrected by more knowledgeable persons but... people I know, including Thai military, who work there have told me that the original American built, Vietnam War era, runway is now used as the taxiway and that a new runway was built by the Thai air force in more recent times.

[ginjag]

Why does the Thai navy own an airport?

The air force probably own the naval base, ---all of it should be transferred over to actual government-under the umbrella of HM forces.

[ginjag]

Kan Air is already flying to U-Tapao.

YES from Udon International airport, I think 3/4 times a week. not checked. Brilliant now Udon Pattaya---and bus from U-Tapao to Pattaya. Udon to Pattays 2 hours plus.

[ratcatcher]

I think it's bit cheeky that they are calling U-Tapao, Bangkok's 3rd International airport. It is after all, 183 kms from the city. That's like calling Birmingham Airport London 5th airport.

Why not Rayong International Aeroport?

[trainman]

Why does the Thai navy own an airport?

Is that a serious question?

U-Tapao is a military airport.

Yes sorry, it is a serious question. I'm not ex-military.

As a layman however, I would have thought that the air-force would be the ones operating any military airports.

[cumgranosalum]

So what will the Airforce and the Navy do with their planes? - or will we have to wait whilst they carry out their important military flights without notice?

I see no mention of a rail link - just the prospect of another 3 to 4 years of road works as local routes are upgraded.

Development - big hotels, air planes landing all right next to the Thai military arsenals and the Petro-Chemical Industries biggest installations - boy they really know how to get all the ingredients together for a major air disaster!

It would be ironic if Laos airlines were to use the place - At least they will have a lovely long runway, built with the aid of the US so that B52s could take off with a full bomb payload and drop them indiscriminately upon the Plain of Jars and other scenic parts of Laos....

It will just be a joint-use (military and commercial) airport like it already is, but the commercial share will increase. Military and commercial aircraft will use the runaway but there will be different aircraft ramp parking and hangars. Lots of major and minor joint-use airports around the world. Heck, Don Muaeng Airport Bangkok has been like that forever.

yes - I've spent hours in Italy waiting for the military to sort out their various flights before we could take off....

[exalll]

So what will the Airforce and the Navy do with their planes? - or will we have to wait whilst they carry out their important military flights without notice?

I see no mention of a rail link - just the prospect of another 3 to 4 years of road works as local routes are upgraded.

Development - big hotels, air planes landing all right next to the Thai military arsenals and the Petro-Chemical Industries biggest installations - boy they really know how to get all the ingredients together for a major air disaster!

It would be ironic if Laos airlines were to use the place - At least they will have a lovely long runway, built with the aid of the US so that B52s could take off with a full bomb payload and drop them indiscriminately upon the Plain of Jars and other scenic parts of Laos....

It will just be a joint-use (military and commercial) airport like it already is, but the commercial share will increase. Military and commercial aircraft will use the runaway but there will be different aircraft ramp parking and hangars. Lots of major and minor joint-use airports around the world. Heck, Don Muaeng Airport Bangkok has been like that forever.

Danang too ... built by the same folks!

A couple of years ago I was standing on the edge of the commercial taxiway at Danang (long story, but I did have permission to be there!) while MiGs were doing touch-and-goes on the military runway no more than a couple of hundred metres away. Wow! My whole body vibrated when they turned on their after-burners!

Edited June 4, 2015 by exalll

[ratcatcher]

So what will the Airforce and the Navy do with their planes? - or will we have to wait whilst they carry out their important military flights without notice?

I see no mention of a rail link - just the prospect of another 3 to 4 years of road works as local routes are upgraded.

Development - big hotels, air planes landing all right next to the Thai military arsenals and the Petro-Chemical Industries biggest installations - boy they really know how to get all the ingredients together for a major air disaster!

It would be ironic if Laos airlines were to use the place - At least they will have a lovely long runway, built with the aid of the US so that B52s could take off with a full bomb payload and drop them indiscriminately upon the Plain of Jars and other scenic parts of Laos....

It will just be a joint-use (military and commercial) airport like it already is, but the commercial share will increase. Military and commercial aircraft will use the runaway but there will be different aircraft ramp parking and hangars. Lots of major and minor joint-use airports around the world. Heck, Don Muaeng Airport Bangkok has been like that forever.

yes - I've spent hours in Italy waiting for the military to sort out their various flights before we could take off....

Don't tell us you blame General George Patton for those delays, surely not.

[thaifoolishness]

Why does the Thai navy own an airport?

Is that a serious question?

U-Tapao is a military airport.

Yes sorry, it is a serious question. I'm not ex-military.

As a layman however, I would have thought that the air-force would be the ones operating any military airports.

It is actually quite common for a countries Navy to have airbases, both the US Navy and UK Royal Navy have them. I'm sure many other countries do too.

[FinChin67]

Who Built Those Runways ?

the Vietnamese

I believe they were just the motivating force behind.

[Emster23]

Can't wait for the renovations and "improvements". If anything like what they have done to Pattaya Beach road and currently doing in Jomtien, we should expect the runways to be torn out and "updated"

[Kerryd]

Lol. It was 11 days ago in a different thread where I suggested that one option to help reduce the number of flights Suvarnabhumi had to handle would be to expand the U-Tapao airport and start having more "direct to" flights there the way they do in Phuket.

According to estimates for last year, Pattaya alone was expected to receive nearly 7.5 million tourists (down from 9 million expected due to the "political unrest" in Bangkok earlier in 2014). 7.5 million equals an average of 20,500 arrivals per day (or about 45-50 fully loaded Boeing 777s/A-330s), every day. (55-60 fully loaded planes per day if the number of tourists goes back up to 9+ mil previous estimate.)

In reality though, it is estimated that 70% of those tourists are foreign so that would cut the number of daily flights down to about 31-36 (or 38-43ish if the number of arrivals increases) plus perhaps another 40(+) smaller (A-320/B-737) flights carrying regional/domestic tourists.

Even cut those numbers in half (to account for those that would still fly into Bangkok first, or arrive in Pattaya by bus/train/etc, and you're still looking at maybe 35+ flights per day, not including cargo or military traffic. Personally I'd rather fly direct to U-Tapao and take a 30 minute trip to Pattaya rather than fly into Suvarnabhumi but I suspect that even if this kicks off full steam ahead, any airline I fly on won't have that option. Then again, it could be a boon for travelling locally (Laos, Myanmar, KL, Singapore, etc).

[cumgranosalum]

So what will the Airforce and the Navy do with their planes? - or will we have to wait whilst they carry out their important military flights without notice?

I see no mention of a rail link - just the prospect of another 3 to 4 years of road works as local routes are upgraded.

Development - big hotels, air planes landing all right next to the Thai military arsenals and the Petro-Chemical Industries biggest installations - boy they really know how to get all the ingredients together for a major air disaster!

It would be ironic if Laos airlines were to use the place - At least they will have a lovely long runway, built with the aid of the US so that B52s could take off with a full bomb payload and drop them indiscriminately upon the Plain of Jars and other scenic parts of Laos....

It will just be a joint-use (military and commercial) airport like it already is, but the commercial share will increase. Military and commercial aircraft will use the runaway but there will be different aircraft ramp parking and hangars. Lots of major and minor joint-use airports around the world. Heck, Don Muaeng Airport Bangkok has been like that forever.

yes - I've spent hours in Italy waiting for the military to sort out their various flights before we could take off....

Don't tell us you blame General George Patton for those delays, surely not.

please explain....

[727Sky]

Great news providing the cost overruns don't go out of sight ! I agree a sky train between certain areas would be great however the airlines will fight that tooth and nail.. I flew out of U-Tapao for about six months in 74..

When Nam fell one of the Vietnamese pilots (two in the cockpit of an F-5 !) ran out of fuel and landed on the highway. The USA Airforce was going to dismantle the aircraft and haul it to U-Tapao... The Vietnamese pilot said just give me some jet fuel and I will fly it there.... they did and he did !!

There were aircraft from Vietnam all over the country when Saigon fell.... many helicopters shot to crap made it across the border... Uncle sugar transferred all or most to the Thai Airforce; or so I was told.... We did recovery which was interesting due to all the bullet holes in the aircraft we recovered...

[MobileContent]

More money for the green uniforms.

[mahtin]

Didn't know they had aircraft carriers in the Spanish Armada - 1588, wasn't it?

Well, let a Brit get a word in...

[stoli]

what they need to do ASAP is push the construction of a high speed skytrain linking Don Muang, Bangkok Central locations, Suvarnabhumi, Pattaya and U-Tapao, with some useful stops in between

The problem right now is that both Swampy & Don Mueang are handling more flights on a daily basis for what they had room for. They are totally built out to the max right now, If you can explain how the Skytrain can get more people from overseas to Thailand, I am sure that they will listen. Maybe they can put the Skytrain on the new bridge from San Francisco to Bangkok?

I would love to see a Skytrain extension down to Pattaya and beyond. I am also sure it is in the planning stages. But it won't help the jets.

[spektrum7]

Great News if you are interested in Aviation ,Flightradar24 .com is very interesting ,Only last night I was watching on my p.c.a 10year old ex Ryanair 737 -8 now with Nok Air Doing Touch and Goes and giving the Pilots extra Training ,using U-Tapao runway .This happens most nights between 10.00pm and 12.00 then Back to Don Mung Hope this is useful to you all Flight host F-VTBU1

[stoli]

So what will the Airforce and the Navy do with their planes? - or will we have to wait whilst they carry out their important military flights without notice?

I see no mention of a rail link - just the prospect of another 3 to 4 years of road works as local routes are upgraded.

Development - big hotels, air planes landing all right next to the Thai military arsenals and the Petro-Chemical Industries biggest installations - boy they really know how to get all the ingredients together for a major air disaster!

It would be ironic if Laos airlines were to use the place - At least they will have a lovely long runway, built with the aid of the US so that B52s could take off with a full bomb payload and drop them indiscriminately upon the Plain of Jars and other scenic parts of Laos....

I would just like to point out that Los Angeles Airport ( LAX), and Long Beach Airport nearby, are in the middle of oil fields and refineries. They lived for decades next to the Long Beach Naval Base, and San Pedro Army Base, both loaded at the time with weapons of all sizes. I cannot remember one problem. I would probably choose a Army base with weapons to crash into, rather than a school or housing development. Just a thought....

[impulse]

I think it's bit cheeky that they are calling U-Tapao, Bangkok's 3rd International airport. It is after all, 183 kms from the city. That's like calling Birmingham Airport London 5th airport.

Why not Rayong International Aeroport?

Yeah, I can just see the disaster when thousands of unsuspecting travelers fly into "Bangkok" each day and have to spend 4 white knuckle hours in a taxi (or God forbid, a bus or kamikaze van) to get to their hotel downtown.

They'll do it because the travel agents and airlines will be less than forthcoming about the location, and the tickets will be $3 cheaper...

They ought to just call it Pattaya Intergender International.

[Maroon Watcher]

Prostitutes, Pimps and back hand boys..?

Who Built Those Runways ?

[laocowboy2]

Who Built Those Runways ?

Uncle Sam

[khun custard]

All good stuff to use U-Tapo

Earth works started on 331 from the 36 junction about 2 months ago ..... but no signs as yet of upgrading the flyover bridge which currently does not connect 7 to 331 Sattahip bound ???

Will this mean all who use 331 coming from route 7(BKK) will have to continue to do the perilous Sattahip U turn?

This will no doubt cause a lot of the current Pattaya to Sattahip Sukhumvit Rd traffic (now a bumper-to-bumper traffic jam from Najomtien to Bang Saray most weekend holidays) to re route via 331 on to the Silverlake road - yet another narrow road death trap full of arrogant coach drivers using local Soi's to access Nong Nok Gardens

Any one care to wager what will be finished first - the Klang Tunnel, 331, the railway or the U-Tapo airport terminal!!

[Greenhill]

U-Tapao runways were designed to take fully loaded B52 bombers

They have already started widening the 331 highway at the northern end from highway 36 junction

The proposed new N S motorway will finish right next to it

Any chance of that useful map in English???