CHONBURI, 4 June 2015 – The Royal Thai Navy and the Ministry of Transport have signed a collaboration agreement to develop U-Tapao Airport into the third commercial airport serving the capital city.
Minister of Transport Prajin Juntong and Navy Commander-in-Chief Kraisorn Chansuvanich on Wednesday signed an agreement on the development of U-Tapao Airport, in preparation for increased air transport activities in the future.
Full commercial service is expected to be available at U-Tapao Airport by 2017.
Under the agreement, the first phase of improvements to the airport will involve a renovation of the existing passenger terminal and the construction of a new terminal. Supporting infrastructures at the airport will also be improved, to allow the airport to accommodate 3 million passengers per year. Highway no. 331 will be expanded to encompass four traffic lanes, and a motorway will be constructed to link Pattaya, Map Ta Phut and U-Tapao Airport.
The new motorway will link up to the existing Motorway no. 7 to facilitate road traffic between Don Mueang, Suvarnabhumi and U-Tapao airports.
The 2nd phase of the development, spanning 2018-2020, would see passenger capacity expanded to 5 million persons per year and an increase in commercial activities.
