U-Tapao Airport in business

[PattayaMale]

The two friends I have coming from Los Angeles will be landing at U-Tapao just 45 minutes from Pattaya. The airport was created by the USA during the Vietnam conflict.

 

Maybe the closing of the 2 airports in Bangkok will be a boon for Pattaya if the government decides to allow more international flights direct access to Utapao. Already some flights from Russia and Finland use this airport.

 

Since many tourist's destination is Pattaya it would be great to have that as a regional airport which could also service Phuket, Samui, Vietnam, Cambodia, etc. This could relieve the government's idea of expanding Suvanabhumi airport as they had planned

 

How they will work the current baggage handling and immigration will be interesting. It could work out better than the massive Bangkok airport.

[Gaybutton]

How they will work the current baggage handling and immigration will be interesting. It could work out better than the massive Bangkok airport.

 

There is also the problem of transportation to and from the U-Tapao airport. I don't think there is near enough taxi service to accommodate large numbers of passengers. Maybe, if it comes to that, since there would be money to be made, additional taxis, vans, and buses would head for U-Tapao, but be prepared for rip-off prices.

 

If any of you are able to find flights to U-Tapao and are concerned about transportation to Pattaya from there, if you want to contact me and make an arrangement, I'll be glad to come to the airport and bring you to Pattaya myself. All I would ask in return is for you to refill my gas tank.

[Guest GaySacGuy]

U-Tapao certainly can't properly handle Airbus 340 out of LAX. There are no custom ques, the baggage recovery is very small, and the terminal is quite small itself. It would be interesting to see how several hundred people would be handled for an arriving flight!!!

[Guest fountainhall]

U-Tapao makes zero sense except for occasional flights.

[Gaybutton]

U-Tapao makes zero sense except for occasional flights.

 

It's either U-Tapao or nowhere near Bangkok or Pattaya at all until this is over. There's not a lot of alternatives in the vicinity unless you want your plane to fly over Pattaya and drop you in by parachute (your luggage arrives later . . .).

 

If some of the airlines opt for U-Tapao, there might be long lines and long waits for luggage, customs, check-in, etc, but at least you could get in and out of Thailand at all.

 

It seems to me the airlines are also taking a wait and see attitude and I doubt they'll do it at all if it causes them to lose money rather than at least break even.

[Guest fountainhall]

Interesting. In a situation like this, who is legally - and thus financially - responsible for getting ticketed passengers out of Thailand? The airlines are surely not responsible for aircraft being unable to land and passengers thereby not getting flights. In any case, it's my understanding that an airline becomes responsible for a passenger only after that passenger has checked in and received the boarding pass. So presumably it must be the Thai government . . or is it?

[PattayaMale]

U-Tapao makes zero sense except for occasional flights.

 

You maybe correct but would you explain your view?

[Guest fountainhall]

You maybe correct but would you explain your view?

 

It's primarily an issue of infrastructure - or the lack thereof. Suvarnabhumi was built to handle something like 40 million passengers a year. I have no idea how many U-Tapao is designed to handle, but it is certainly a small fraction of that number. After all, it only handles a few charter flights at present. How can they suddenly increase the check-in area to allow for dozens of airlines? How is Immigration going to work? How is security screening going to work? Screening will inevitably take longer since it does not have the latest sophisticated scanners as those at BKK. How are airlines going to re-position staff, offices, computers? Can U-Tapao's computer systems handle any increased number of outgoing flights? Can air traffic control handle the increase? And where will passengers wait between check-in and boarding. The physical space at U-Tapao is just too small. I can go on, but I think that explains my comment.

 

[PattayaMale]

I understand your point and you are certainly correct. My post was a bit muddled. I was not suggesting that Utapao replace BKK but rather that it might provide more regional short haul travel. I noticed today that a week or so ago Utapao is now using Utapao International as it's name according to the Pattaya Mail.

 

One of my friends did land today on the Eva Flight from LAX-Taipei-Utapao at 11:20 this morning. However his partner who had to take a different flight on EVA because of the seat availability is still in Los Angeles. Eva is no longer going to use Utapao because of insurance concerns he wrote to me.