U-topia Airport to go international

[short 215]

U-topia Airport, you know, the one we used to bomb Vietnam to hell and back:

 

 

(copied from Yahoo)

 

 

BANGKOK, July 15 (Reuters) - Thailand plans to spend 700million baht ($20.56 million) to build a passenger terminal andrunway at U-Tapao naval air base outside Bangkok, part of adrive to turn the base into an international commercial airport,a senior official said.

Construction will end in February and the terminal will openin June, U-Tapao director Wasinsap Chantawarin told reporters onWednesday, at a press conference held to welcome the firstflight to the airport of Malaysia's AirAsia Bhd.

Thailand is increasing capacity at its overcrowded airportsto cater to a rising number of foreign visitors. Touristarrivals rose 27 percent in the first half of 2015, from thesame period a year earlier.

Tourism makes up 10 percent of an economy recovering frommonths of political unrest which saw a drop in visitors, endingwith the army seizing power in May last year.

U-Tapao opened in 1989 mainly for charter flights and thenavy. It is also a hub for Bangkok Airways PCL, whichoperates regular flights to Samui and Phuket island resorts. Itis around 140 km (90 miles) southeast of capital city Bangkok,and about 45 minutes' drive from popular beach resort Pattaya.

The new terminal will raise the airport's annual capacity to3 million passengers from 870,000, Wasinsap said. The airportcurrently serves 120,000 to 140,000 passengers a year, butAirAsia flights are likely to push the number to 240,000 thisyear and 1 million next year, he said.

AirAsia subsidiary Thai AirAsia, a joint venture with AsiaAviation PCL, plans regular flights from U-Tapao todestinations in China from October, said Thai AirAsia Directorof Commercial Santisuk Klongchaiya.

($1 = 34.0500 baht) (Reporting by Manunphattr Dhanananphorn; Writing by KhettiyaJittapong; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

[jacko 8,815]

Air Asia might be due to fly there but I am also expecting a lot of Chinese operators would join them.

Now that might change the future of Pattaya!

[short 215]

They should fly the Chinese straight to Ko Larn.

[nkped 1,208]

The initial Air Asia service will be to Kuala Lumpur.