U-Tapao International Airport ready for commercial flights

[canopus1969]

Any chance it will have non-stops to Clarke?

Now that would be sensible

[steve187]

U tha Pao or something like that is just the English transliteration from Thai. So don't complaint Thais for this.

if they want 3 million passengers a year, they better make up their mind. I don't care what they choose but when I type it into Google map or my car GPS I would like to have a correct answer.

Shangai is also not written Changai or Shankay.

why all the complaining , find it once and save it here - https://www.google.co.th/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=rayong%20airport%20thailand

[minikev]

U Ta Phao or U-Tapao?

Very confusing when trying to find specific things about Thailand on the internet. Thais really need to take grammar more seriously.

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It is written and pronounced in a different language to yours and mine. Both ways you spell it in English would sound very similar.

[sandrabbit]

Obviously it should be re-named Pattaya International. None of those arriving tourists are going to Rayong or Sattahip.

why, it is in Rayong not Chonburi?

[swissbie]

Obviously it should be re-named Pattaya International. None of those arriving tourists are going to Rayong or Sattahip.

I'd prefer U-Tapao international. We arrived in U-Tapao in 2008 when Bangkok's airports had been shut down. Coming from Europe and not heading to the east coast it was somewhat chaotic but everything went well and we were happy as most airlines had cancelled their flights to Bangkok.

[nakhonandy]

Remember Don Muang?

All of a sudden it should be Don Mueang.

Maybe it was Utapao an now it should be

U-ta-Pao.

Maybe there are no fixed rules in transliteration of Thai into English, or maybe the Thai language is not "fixed" enough to be transliterated.

There is an official transliteration of Thai to English.

However surprise, surprise it is rarely used and they fill in what they think!

[bangon04]

The Government plans to develop this as the third commercial international airport.Someone can't count as there are more than three currently operating.

"as a result of the government’s policy to develop it as the country’s third international commercial airport."

yes they had better tell the authorities in ChiangMai to stop fretting about expanding the airport there.

[Lannig]

There is an official Thai transliteration scheme. Blame the newspapers and government officials if they don't use it. Don't expect the average Joe Thai to even know it exists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Thai_General_System_of_Transcription

And this transliteration scheme has some very silly provisions like transliterate mute syllabes and don't alter consonants to reflect their actual pronunciation.

Here comes Suwarnabhumi which brings up confused looks from taxi drivers when rightly so pronounced "soo warna boomee"

So no wonder people often want to deviate from the official scheme and use their own, causing even more confusion.

[maprao]

Any chance it will have non-stops to Clarke?

Now that would be sensible

Glad to see two fellow posters that came here for the temples, food and culture just like me!

[bluemoonpattaya]

After flying to U-Tapao airport last week, you can see the new arrival and departure buildings. which at best are double the size of the old building. But I did not see any improvements being made to car parks, roads, ect

The airport now handles 14 aircraft per day. Now If there is to be 62,000 flights per year

that would be 170 per day..... 14 flights per hour on day time flights only .....

Belfast international airport ( Northern Ireland) only has 51,000 flights per year and handles about 4,000,000 passengers.

I think someone needs a new calculator, because 62,000 flights per year will not work, unless a vast amount is spent

on the infrastructure. And an even bigger airport.

[LawrenceN]

"Governments policy to develop it as the countrys third international commercial airport."

Excuse me? Has the reporter never heard of the international airports at Chiang Mai or Phuket? There may be a few others as well.

[LawrenceN]

"Governments policy to develop it as the countrys third international commercial airport."

Excuse me? Has the reporter never heard of the international airports at Chiang Mai or Phuket? There may be a few others as well.

[denby45]

Used it a few times and it's been cheaper than Suvarnabhumi for flights to Singapore. Certainly a lot more convenient when leaving from Jomtien!

It may be cheaper but more convenient is questionable. There is not much difference in time to Swampy and time to Utapao. If you don't like queues at trafic lights then Swampy is best by far.

Den

[Enoon]

Will aeroplanes from Europe/Middle East/India be flying over Pattaya/Jomtien before turning onto approach/finals when using 18?

The angle/distance looks right.

[empireboy]

Used it a few times and it's been cheaper than Suvarnabhumi for flights to Singapore. Certainly a lot more convenient when leaving from Jomtien!

It may be cheaper but more convenient is questionable. There is not much difference in time to Swampy and time to Utapao. If you don't like queues at trafic lights then Swampy is best by far.

Den

My own experience is 40-50 minutes to U-Tapao and 90-120 minutes to Swampy.

[Refugee]

According to their web site the official name is"U-Tapao Rayong-Pattaya International Airport"

If you search "Skyscanner" for tickets you can just type "Pattaya".

Link: http://www.utapao.com/

[ronrat]

U tha Pao or something like that is just the English transliteration from Thai. So don't complaint Thais for this.

if they want 3 million passengers a year, they better make up their mind. I don't care what they choose but when I type it into Google map or my car GPS I would like to have a correct answer.

Shangai is also not written Changai or Shankay.

If you need GPS or google maps to find something as large as an airport then you have serious navigation issues. Hint signs with drawings of planes you see worldwide are generally spot on.

[CNXBKKMAN]

I think its official name now is Rayong International. I think Pattaya Airport would have been the most obvious and straightforward name to present to the world.

[newnative]

It's 2016 (not 2558). It's high time for Thailand to come up with one official English spelling for major things like airports, cities, streets, etc. I've lost count with how many ways I've seen Phratamnack spelled.

[steve187]

It's 2016 (not 2558). It's high time for Thailand to come up with one official English spelling for major things like airports, cities, streets, etc. I've lost count with how many ways I've seen Phratamnack spelled.

most of the incorrect speelings will be on TV

[gk10002000]

Living next door in Ban Chang, this is a great improvement over Suvarnabhumi, let alone Don Muang!

I've been using it for flights to Singapore and Malaysia and since 3 months and it still is a bit clumsy, but works for me and saves so much time.

I loved the flight to Phuket, and the return from Samui. Easy starting from Pattaya.

[Jessi]

"It is expected to accommodate more than 62,000 flights a year"

That is 170 flights/day on average. Typo, or should we be really scared?

The numbers were made up by TAT, that should explain it.

[jacko45k]

Well if it is ready to join the ranks of Thai International airports, does that mean they now have long lines of not so well behaved Chinese tourists or were they there already?

Careful you posters with blaming the Chinese for everything.

Experience with some 112 homes community were I live points more at Koreans.

Well I have worked in both countries myself and found China more of an aggravation.

[pcliff069]

It's 2016 (not 2558). It's high time for Thailand to come up with one official English spelling for major things like airports, cities, streets, etc. I've lost count with how many ways I've seen Phratamnack spelled.

it is the lament I hear from every US tourist - why can't these people speak English?

And why indeed. If their country hasn't been raped and pillaged by the English they will at least know and be friends with one that has.

[Bobotie]

U Ta Phao or U-Tapao?

Very confusing when trying to find specific things about Thailand on the internet. Thais really need to take grammar more seriously.

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Or maybe you need to learn Thai...just a thought...

[HOAX]

U Ta Phao or U-Tapao?

Very confusing when trying to find specific things about Thailand on the internet. Thais really need to take grammar more seriously.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Or maybe you need to learn Thai...just a thought...

I'm planning to, but did your thought include all the lucky tourists and the international companies and services that has the pleasure of relying on addresses, names and words in Thailand being spelled correctly?

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[Rancid]

Having bought some land near a Rayong beach area sounds like good news. Haven't found the trip to/from Bangkok airports that much of a joy.

[OJAS]

Any chance it will have non-stops to Clarke?

Now that would be sensible

And where is this wonderful place called Clarke anyway?

And can it also be spelled Clark? Or even Clerk??

[Penefattore]

Any chance it will have non-stops to Clarke?

Possibly before next Songkran ?

[buckieonsoi4]

Any problems transferring from a flight from the USA into Singapore to one of those Air Asia flights to UTP ?

can I clear customs in UTP ?