Hua Hin airport due for upgrade

[butch]

About 20 years back the wife purchased 2 rai out where the 4 by pass is. she and her friends were excited because a giant airport was going to be built in that area. it was never built. my wife and her Thai friends were bitterly disappointed. bad info. she finally sold the 2 rai for a small profit but never the big bucks envisioned.

[Thailightzone]

Thailightzone, I've been hanging around Huahin for over 17 years, I dread taking the taxi from BKK to Huahin, would love flights from HKG,NRT or TPE, but think in my lifetime only a pipedream, I don't care if a A-380 could land here that would happen. If I was twenty younger may be optimistic. I've always been jealous of my Brit friends as only a 12 hours ride to Thailand, from my side of the world with flights and taxi a 24 hour trip.

Well these days aircraft size does not always equate to distance, but I'm guessing from your description you are from the USA which is quite a stretch. I'm pretty sure the landing fees at Hua Hin would be low, so it really comes down to the size and viability of the market, and I doubt Hua Hin is promoted as a destination overseas (aside from when AirAsia Berhad flew from Malaysia). I reckon there is a market for at least 1 direct flight a week from Australia.

You may be able to take the high speed train from BKK in a few years

[HHTel]

About 20 years back the wife purchased 2 rai out where the 4 by pass is. she and her friends were excited because a giant airport was going to be built in that area. it was never built. my wife and her Thai friends were bitterly disappointed. bad info. she finally sold the 2 rai for a small profit but never the big bucks envisioned.

Thai misinformation was around a long time before Trump. The rumour mill here is always very active ..... and usually wrong. I would guess that you'll find no evidence whatsoever of plans to build a 'giant airport'.

[ahandpatsy]

I reckon a flight via dubai maybe on the cards which would be brilliant from uk

[Dannie Boy]

I reckon a flight via dubai maybe on the cards which would be brilliant from uk

It would indeed

[buksida]

I dont think there will be enough demand for long-haul flights to Hua Hin for at least ten years - Bangkok has to start first and that won't be back to "normal" for at least two years at the rate things are going here. If they do open HH to international flights again, you can bet it will be to Chinese cities.

Their most popular flight (HH >< KL) was price hiked less than a year after launch, then cut back on schedules, then completely canceled all together even though they were mostly full - and that was before Covid really kicked in.

As soon as a flight becomes popular they price it out of practicality and the route ends up shutting down as nobody wants to use it anymore. Hua Hin airport has always been a bit of a white elephant in that regard.

[Thailightzone]

About 20 years back the wife purchased 2 rai out where the 4 by pass is. she and her friends were excited because a giant airport was going to be built in that area. it was never built. my wife and her Thai friends were bitterly disappointed. bad info. she finally sold the 2 rai for a small profit but never the big bucks envisioned.

Thai misinformation was around a long time before Trump. The rumour mill here is always very active ..... and usually wrong. I would guess that you'll find no evidence whatsoever of plans to build a 'giant airport'.

True. Where did that rumour even start? It's ridiculous. A runway extension & widening makes sense. Upgrading the current terminal (which is smaller than most Thai town bus terminals) makes sense. Thats all. The traffic simply doesn't exist for anything more.

Now if an airline thinks it is a viable hub to secure they could offer to buy the airport (Bangkok Airways is the sole owner of Koh Samui Airport), but again I don't think Hua Hin Is promoted as a destination outside of Thailand.

[fft100]

That was the same time it was mentioned in the papers/internet that Disney (or similar) were thinking of opening a theme park near the bypass.

And then there was the fast train station that was going to be near the Palau / bypass junction.

How much was reality and how much was dreaming I will leave upto the reader !!