News
Thai Lion to launch U-Tapao operations
April 13th 2017
Budget carrier Thai Lion Air, the Thai subsidiary of Indonesia’s Lion Air Group, will launch flights from U-Tapao-Rayong-Pattaya International Airport, the Bangkok Post has reported. Read More » Thai Lion has its main base at Bangkok’s Don Mueang low-cost airport, with a secondary base in the southern city of Hat Yai.
It is expected Thai Lion will operate domestic and international services from U-Tapao, with a particular focus on scheduled and chartered flights to Mainland China, its strongest market.
Low-cost rival, AirAsia, has been rapidly building its network from U-Tapao since it launched flights in 2015. AirAsia flies to Kuala Lumpur and Thai AirAsia serves Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Macau, Nanchang, Nanning, Phuket, Udon Thani and Ubon Ratchathani from U-Tapao.
Hong Kong Airlines and budget carrier, HK Express, are considering more flights from Hong Kong to U-Tapao. China Southern Airlines launched a Pudong flight in 2016, but terminated the service within months. Hainan Airlines flies from U-Tapao to Sanya three times a week, marking the airport’s only scheduled full-service route to China. Russia’s S7 Airlines serves Irkutsk from U-Tapao every Thursday.
The airport will open a passenger terminal next month, with the intention of increasing passenger arrivals from 800,000 a year to three million by year-end and five million by 2020.
