INCREASED airline links are bringing more travellers through U-Tapao airport, the gateway to the Thai cities of Pattaya and Rayong, but the increased connectivity is unlikely to detract fliers from transiting at Bangkok Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi.
Thai AirAsia inaugurated four routes on November 27 at U-Tapao to Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Singapore and Macau, and will start services to Hat Yai from today. Several airlines including Emirates, Hong Kong Airlines and China Southern are also planning to begin routes there.
Additionally, U-Tapao is currently undergoing expansion works to boost capacity by 2016.
Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia, said: “Don Mueang airport remains a very important and strategic base for us and the opening of U-Tapao as our fifth hub is simply a way of extending our connectivity in addition to our existing hubs such as Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai and Krabi.”
Increased flights into U-Tapao will definitely result in more visitors, but not result in the airport becoming a transit hub so quickly, according to Sanpech Supabowornsthian, assistant managing director of the Unchaleewiwat Group which owns eight hotels in Thailand.
Supabowornsthian, who is also president of the Thai Hotels Association Eastern Chapter, added that visitors are still likely to enter Thailand via Bangkok before travelling to other regional destinations.
