U-Tapao International Airport

U-Tapao–Rayong–Pattaya International Airport
ท่าอากาศยานอู่ตะเภา-ระยอง-พัทยา
Summary
Airport type Public / Military
Operator Royal Thai Navy
Serves Chonburi-Pattaya Metropolitain Area
Rayong
Location Ban Chang, Rayong, Thailand
Hub for Thai AirAsia
Elevation AMSL 42 ft / 13 m
Coordinates 12°40′47″N 101°00′18″E / 12.67972°N 101.00500°E / 12.67972; 101.00500Coordinates: 12°40′47″N 101°00′18″E / 12.67972°N 101.00500°E / 12.67972; 101.00500
Map
UTP

Location of airport in Thailand

Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
18/36 3,505 11,500 Asphalt
Statistics
Total passengers (2016)[1] 710,000
Freight (tonnes) 37,374
Source: DAFIF[2][3]

U-Tapao International Airport[4] (Thai: ท่าอากาศยานนานาชาติอู่ตะเภา) (IATA: UTP, ICAO: VTBU) also spelled Utapao and U-Taphao, is a joint civil–military public airport serving Rayong and Pattaya cities in Thailand. It is in Ban Chang District of Rayong Province.

It also serves as the U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, home of the Royal Thai Navy First Air Wing. U-Tapao is the home of a large Thai Airways maintenance facility, servicing that airline's aircraft as well as those of other customers.[5] Due to the blockade of Bangkok's airports by opposition protesters, U-Tapao briefly became the main air gateway to Thailand between 26 November and 5 December 2008. As both of Bangkok's international airports essential to the country's tourist boom are operating beyond capacity as of 2015,[6][7] U-tapao in particular has been eyed as an alternate international gateway due to relative proximity to the capital.

Location

U-Tapao lies approximately 90 miles (140 km) southeast of Bangkok, south of Rte 3 (Thanon Sukhumvit) at km189, near Sattahip on the Gulf of Thailand, about a 45-minute drive from Pattaya (Thailand's most popular beach resort).

History

Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War U-Tapao was a military base for United States Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers, called "Bee-hasip-sawng" (B-52) by the local Thais. U-Tapao was a front-line base along with the other US bases at Korat, Udon, Ubon, Nakhon Phanom, and Takhli. The USAF B-52s made regular sorties over North Vietnam and North Vietnamese-controlled areas in Laos, carrying an average of 108 50-pound and 750-pound bombs per mission. Entertainer Bob Hope visited the base every year between 1964 and 1972 with his USO Christmas show.[8]

November 2008 protests in Bangkok

With the temporary closure of Suvarnabhumi Airport and Don Mueang Airport in late November 2008 due to their being occupied by protestors, U-Tapao became for a time Thailand's main supplementary international gateway. Many airlines arranged special flights to and from U-Tapao to ferry international passengers stranded because of the seizure of the Suvarnabhumi Airport.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] Several governments including Italy, Macau and Spain also sent chartered flights to evacuate residents.

As many as 100,000 passengers were stranded in Thailand until early December. Although its runway can accommodate large aircraft, U-Tapao's terminals are not designed to handle more than a few flights a day. Travellers were subject to many hardships, and since the security was not up-to-date, some US-bound flights were diverted to Japan in order to make the passengers go through a supplementary security check.[11]

Airport expansion

As Bangkok's two international airports are operating beyond capacity, the government intends to turn U-Tapao into a third major destination for airlines. A new second terminal, which will increase airport capacity from 800,000 to three million persons per year, will open in late-2017. Airport director, Rear Adm Worapol Tongpricha, said the 620 million baht terminal is the start of a three-year, first-phase development. In the second phase, the government will boost the capacity further to 15 million people.[16]

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

AirlinesDestinationsRoute
AirAsia Kuala Lumpur–International International
Azur AirSeasonal charter: Krasnoyarsk–Yemelyanovo,[17] Khabarovsk International
Bangkok Airways Ko Samui, Phuket Domestic
China Southern Airlines Shanghai–Pudong International
Hainan Airlines Sanya [18] International
Kan Air Chiang Mai Domestic
New Gen Airways Charter: Zhengzhou International
Royal Flight Seasonal charter: Krasnoyarsk–Yemelyanovo[17] International
S7 Airlines Seasonal: Irkutsk[19] International
Thai AirAsia Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Phuket, Udon Thani, Ubon Ratchathani Domestic
Thai AirAsia Macau, Nanchang, Nanning, International

Cargo

AirlinesDestinations
K-Mile Air Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi

Accidents and incidents

On 28 October 1977, a Douglas DC-3 of Air Vietnam en route from Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh City, to Duong Dong Airport, Phu Quoc, Vietnam, was hijacked and diverted to U-Tapao Air Base to refuel. Two Vietnamese officials on the aircraft were killed in the hijacking.[20]

Notes

  1. ↑ Janssen, Peter (2017-06-06). "Military airbase set for commercial take-off in Thailand". Asia Times. Retrieved June 21, 2017.
  2. ↑ Airport information for VTBU at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF.
  3. ↑ Airport information for UTP at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
  4. ↑ (PDF) https://web.archive.org/web/20110525234510/http://www.utapao.com/files/UTP%20PROFILE.pdf. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 6 February 2013. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ Archived 6 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "New terminal to boost U-Tapao Airport".
  7. ↑ "Don Mueang is world's busiest LCC". The Nation. 15 September 2015.
  8. ↑ U-tapao back on the map; Bangkok Post, 7–2 Dec, 008 issue.
  9. ↑ "ANA International Flight Status". Fli.ana.co.jp.
  10. ↑ "Cathay Pacific". Cathay Pacific.
  11. 1 2 https://web.archive.org/web/20081202004509/http://www.evaair.com/html/b2c/english/eva/News/2008/LatestupdateonBangkokFlights.htm. Archived from the original on 2 December 2008. Retrieved 29 November 2008. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. ↑ http://www.hongkongexpress.com/web/eng/news_e.php?id=Special%20ticketing%20arrangement%20for%20BANGKOK%20flights
  13. ↑ http://www.singaporeair.com/saa/Util/showPopup.jspx?method=window&windowUrl=/saa/en_UK/Util/BreakingNewsPopup.jsp?msgId=2
  14. ↑ Archived 5 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ Page 6, South China Morning Post, 30 November 2008.
  16. ↑ "U-Tapao airport takes new leap". Bangkok Post. 21 June 2016. Retrieved 21 June 2016.
  17. 1 2 "Yemelyanovo International Airport - Flights timetable from 26 March 2017 to 28 October 2017". yemelyanovo.ru. Retrieved March 28, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Hainan schedules Sanya – Utapao May 2017 launch". routesonline. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  19. ↑ "Flight timetable S7 Airilines". S7 Airlines. Retrieved 9 December 2016.
  20. ↑ "Hijacking description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 5 Aug 2010.
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