Surat Thani International Airport

Surat Thani International Airport (Thai: ท่าอากาศยานสุราษฎร์ธานี) (IATA: URT, ICAO: VTSB) is an international airport located in Phunphin District, Surat Thani Province, in Southern Thailand. The airport, 21 km west of Surat Thani City, also is home to the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) squadrons. Surat Thani has a single paved runway. It is the tenth-busiest airport in Thailand in terms of passengers, handling more than two million passengers annually.

Surat Thani International Airport

ท่าอากาศยานสุราษฎร์ธานี
Summary
Airport typePublic / Military
OwnerRoyal Thai Air Force
OperatorDepartment of Airports
ServesSurat Thani
Location73 Moo 3, Hua Toei, Phunphin, Surat Thani, Thailand
Elevation AMSL6.1 m / 20 ft
Coordinates09°07′57″N 99°08′08″E
Map
URT
Location of airport in Thailand
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
04/22 3,000 9,843 Asphalt
Statistics (2019)
Passengers1,559,287

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
AirAsia Kuala Lumpur–International
Nok Air Bangkok–Don Mueang
Nordwind Airlines Seasonal charter: Krasnoyarsk, Moscow–Sheremetyevo, Novosibirsk[1]
Thai AirAsia Bangkok–Don Mueang, Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi (resumes 25 September 2020), Chiang Mai
Thai Lion Air Bangkok–Don Mueang
Thai Smile Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi
Thai Vietjet Air Bangkok–Suvarnabhumi (begins 4 November 2020)

Terminated

Statistics

Passengers
Year Total
2005 204,146
2006 288,406
2007 327,770
2008 338,938
2009 374,067
2010 505,666
2011 575,229
2012 816,413
2013 1,080,781
2014 1,321,909
2015 1,856,315
2016 2,032,042
2017 2,247,590
2018 2,108,289

Military use

As well as being a commercial facility, Surat Thani Airport is an active RTAF base, the home of 4th Air Division/7th Wing Air Combat Command. 701 Squadron, "Shark", flies twelve SAAB JAS-39 C/D Gripen fighter aircraft. 702 Squadron operates two airborne early warning (AEW) and two transport SAAB SF340 airplanes. A further two SF340s are on order.

Airport upgrade

In 2019, the Department of Airports announced a plan to upgrade the airport to accommodate 3.6 million passengers a year, up from two million.[2]

Accidents

On 11 December 1998, Thai Airways Flight 261, an A310-200 (HS-TIA), bound for Surat Thani from Bangkok, was making its third landing attempt in heavy rain when it crashed into a rice paddy about 3 km (1.9 mi) from the airport; 101 of the 146 passengers and crew aboard were killed.

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References
  1. "Surat Thani, Thailand gains first intercontinental route". ch-aviation.com. 22 November 2019.
  2. Thodsapol, Hongtong (6 August 2019). "Three airports to be upgraded". Bangkok Post. Retrieved 6 August 2019.

Surat Thani travel guide from Wikivoyage

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