Pattaya Today Vol 14 Issue 23 - 16-31 August 2015

Page 1

Volume 14, Issue 23

16 - 31 August 2015

30 BAHT

What’s Inside:

U-Tapao airport transformed The aim is 5 million annual arrivals A

fter almost 40 years as a quasi-civilian airport run by the navy, U-Tapao has at last been given the green light to become a major aviation hub. A major plan, agreed by the transport ministry and the navy, envisages a six-fold increase in civilian traffic by 2020 for the U-built airfield in Rayong province. The current arrivals of 120,000 per year will zoom towards one million with an eventual target of three million. However, the airport will retain its military usage, dating back to the Vietnam War in the 1970s, as well as being a base for weather research. Last month, the touchdown of Air Asia Malaysia’s scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur triggered a new kind of traffic flow at the airport as the airline now hosts four flights per week from the Malaysian capital. In the past, only a few charter flights operated in and out of U-Tapao, mostly bringing Russian and Chinese tourists on package tours. Also Thai Air Asia, a sister airline, is to use the airport from October as a base to launch flights to several Chinese destinations. Bangkok Airways already operates flights from U-Tapao to Koh Samui and Phuket.

The airport authorities are already wooing other airlines to operate scheduled flights through U-Tapao by incentives such as slashing landing fees by 25 percent and the possibility of cheaper refueling facilities as well. Rear admiral Vasinsan Chantavarin, director of U-Tapao, said he was encouraging interested airlines to put forward their own suggestions for expanded use. There are ongoing talks with Bangkok Airways about additional flights, whilst some observers believe there is scope for U-Tapao becoming a more important domestic hub serving more cities in Thailand. The terminal is currently undergoing major refurbishment at a cost of 700 million baht, due for completion by March next year. If the second and third expansion plans come about, it is envisaged that U-Tapao will have a capacity for five million arrivals by the middle of the next decade. The airport first became famous when it was used to transport passengers out of the country when the main Bangkok airport was occupied by the yellow shirt protestors in Continued on page 6


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