U-Tapao could be renamed U-Tapao Pattaya airport
File photo. Source: Internet
Bangkok:-- U-Tapao airport in Rayong province could be renamed U-Tapao Pattaya airport under new plans announced by Thailand’s minister for tourism and sports.
According to Minister Kobkarn, including ‘Pattaya’ in the name would be helpful to tourists arriving at the airport, as Pattaya is already a well known to tourists throughout the world, reports Daily News.
Despite predominantly being used as a military airport, U-Tapao is currently undergoing major commercial expansion, which will result in the airport being used to ease congestion at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport.
The construction of a new passenger terminal, due to open in June 2016, will raise the current capacity of U-Tapao from 800,000 passengers to 5 million passengers per year by 2020.
Currently U-Tapao handles around 120,000 passengers per year from charter flights mainly arriving from Russia and China.
However, local operator Kan Air had been using U-Tapao to serve domestic flights to Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, and Don Mueang.
In May, AirAsia announced the launch of KL-Pattaya flights which are due to commence from tomorrow (July 16).
U-Tapao is approximately 140 km southeast of Bangkok and is about a 45 minute drive from Pattaya.
