U-Tapao International Airport
Commercial airport serving Pattaya, Thailand From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
U-Tapao–Rayong–Pattaya International Airport (IATA: UTP, ICAO: VTBU), also spelled Utapao and U-Taphao, is a joint civil–military public international airport serving the cities of Rayong and Pattaya in Eastern Thailand. It is in the Ban Chang district of Rayong province.[4][5]
U-Tapao–Rayong–Pattaya International Airport ท่าอากาศยานอู่ตะเภา ระยอง–พัทยา | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public / military | ||||||||||
| Owner | Royal Thai Navy | ||||||||||
| Operator | Department of Airports | ||||||||||
| Serves | |||||||||||
| Location | Ban Chang district, Rayong province, Thailand | ||||||||||
| Opened | 2 June 1966 | ||||||||||
| Operating base for |
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| Elevation AMSL | 13 m / 42 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 12°40′47″N 101°00′18″E | ||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||
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  UTP/VTBU Location of airport in Rayong Province  UTP/VTBU Location of airport in the Bay of Bangkok  UTP/VTBU Location of airport in Thailand | |||||||||||
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| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2018) | |||||||||||
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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.[6] 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,[7][8] U-Tapao in particular has been eyed as an alternate international gateway due to its relative proximity to the capital.
U-Tapao lies approximately 90 miles (140 km) southeast of Bangkok, south of Sukhumvit Road at Km. 189, near Sattahip on the Gulf of Thailand, about a 45-minute drive from Pattaya (Thailand's most popular beach resort).
Vietnam War
U-Tapao was built by the United States to accommodate B-52 bombers for missions in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia during the Vietnam War.[9] Construction began on 15 October 1965 and was completed on 2 June 1966.[10] U-Tapao was the primary Southeast Asian airfield for USAF B-52 bombers, called "Bee-hasip-sawng" (B-52) by the local Thais.[11] 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 108 500-pound and 750-pound bombs per mission. U-Tapao was a regular stop on Bob Hope's Christmas shows for the troops.[12]
November 2008 protests in Bangkok
With the temporary closure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports in late November 2008 because they had been occupied by anti-government 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 by the closure of the Suvarnabhumi Airport.[13][14][15][16][17] Several governments including Italy, Macau and Spain also sent chartered flights to evacuate residents.[citation needed]
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 as the security was not up-to-date, some US-bound flights were diverted to Japan and their passengers required to go through a supplementary security check before continuing.[15]
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 will increase airport capacity from 800,000 to three million persons per year. Terminal 2 was partially opened in November 2018 and was officially opened in February 2019.[18]
There were also 41 direct flights landing from China weekly.[19] Airport director, Rear Admiral 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 passengers per year.[20]
In November 2022, the Thai Government approved another expansion plan for U-Tapao, to increase its capacity to 60 million passengers per year. It is planned to add a new runway, taxiways and facilities to increase Pattaya's and Bangkok's air passenger capacity, and also boost connections to the Eastern Economic Corridor.[21]
In late 2018, King Power was awarded a ten-year contract to operate U-Tapao duty-free shops. A partnership between Thai retailer Central Department Store Company (Central Group) and DFS Group will manage retail shops and services, mainly food and beverage, also for 10 years.[22]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| AirAsia | Kuala Lumpur–International[23] |
| Bangkok Airways | Koh Samui, Phuket |
| Flydubai | Dubai–International |
| Thai Lion Air | Chiang Mai |
| Azur Air | Seasonal charter: Irkutsk,[24] Krasnoyarsk-International,[24] Moscow-Vnukovo,[24] Novosibirsk,[24] Samara,[24] Tomsk,[25] Yekaterinburg,[24] Novokuznetsk, Vladivostok, Ufa, Khabarovsk, Barnaul, Blagoveshchensk |
| SCAT Airlines | Seasonal charter: Almaty, Astana |
| Thai Summer Airways | Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Hat Yai, Hua Hin, Khon Kaen, Mae Sot, Nan, Phitsanulok, Phuket, Roi Et (begins 28 November 2024) , Surat Thani (begins 17 December 2024), Udon Thani |
- On 28 October 1977, a Douglas DC-3 of Vietnam Airlines 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.[26]
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