U-Tapao International Airport
- For the military use of the facility see U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield
U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport (IATA: UTP, ICAO: VTBU) (Thai: ท่าอากาศยานนานาชาติอู่ตะเภา), also spelled Utapao and U-Taphao, is a joint civil-military public airport serving Rayong and Pattaya, cities in Thailand. It is approximately 90 miles (140 km) southeast of Bangkok, near Sattahip on the Gulf of Siam. It is located south of route 3 (Thanon Sukhumvit) at km 189, about a 45 minute drive from Pattaya (Thailand's most popular beach resort).
It also serves as the U-Tapao Royal Thai Navy Airfield, home of the Royal Thai Navy First Air Wing. U-Tapao is the home of a large Thai Airways maintenance facility, servicing that airline's aircraft as well as those of other customers. Due to the blockade of Bangkok's airports by opposition protesters, U-Tapao briefly became the main air gateway to Thailand between November 26 and December 5, 2008.
Read more about U-Tapao International Airport: Airlines and Destinations, Accidents and Incidents
Famous quotes containing the word airport:
“Airplanes are invariably scheduled to depart at such times as 7:54, 9:21 or 11:37. This extreme specificity has the effect on the novice of instilling in him the twin beliefs that he will be arriving at 10:08, 1:43 or 4:22, and that he should get to the airport on time. These beliefs are not only erroneous but actually unhealthy.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)