Surat Thani Airport
Surat Thani Airport
Surat Thani International Airport (IATA: URT, ICAO: VTSB) is an international airport in Tambon Hua Toei, Amphoe Phunphin, Surat Thani province in Southern Thailand. It is located 21 kilometres (13 mi) west of downtown Surat Thani, and is also home to the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) squadrons. It has a single paved runway and is the tenth-busiest airport in Thailand in terms of passengers, handling more than two million passengers annually.
Location
9.133°N, 99.136°E · 6 m s. n. m. (20 ft)
General data
Runways · 1
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 3
Tower
Ground
Approach
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
Donnok airport
Surat Thani Airport's predecessor is known locally as Donnok Airport (Thai: สนามบินดอนนก). It is located in Makham Tia subdistrict, Mueang Surat Thani district, around 3 km (1.9 mi) away from Surat Thani City, and has a single, gravel paved runway, 800 meters in length. Later, the runway was expanded by the Royal Thai Air Force to 1,000 metres, which was still only capable of handling small planes, such as the Douglas DC-3.
The current airport
Due to the original airport's close proximity to Surat Thani, the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) planned a new airport away from the city. A former airfield used in World War II by the military was chosen as the site for the new airport. After the construction site was chosen, a plan for the airfield's development was proposed. However, in 1973, the government suspended the development project and used the funds to support Phuket International Airport's operations instead.
In 1975, many residents in Surat Thani called for the project's reconsideration. The Ministry of Defence and CAAT showed interest in the project and the airfield's development began in 1978. The airport was officially opened on 15 April 1981. It had a single runway, 2,500 metres in length. In 1993, the runway was expanded to support larger commercial flights and military operations.
Future upgrades and developments
The Department of Airports announced a 1.7 billion Baht plan to upgrade the airport. Details of the project are as following:
The airport's apron will be expanded to increase its capacity up to 11 Boeing 737s at a time.
The electrical system and wires will be moved underground.
The airport terminal will be expanded to accommodate up to 3.6 million passengers a year. The car park will also be expanded to handle up to 700 cars at a time.
The runway will be upgraded to increase its strength.
Construction of the new transportation center to handle more passengers.
Airlines operating here · 4
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: jetalone · CC BY 2.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Surat Thani Airport (URT). Retrieved October 23, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/URT
MLA
“Surat Thani Airport (URT).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/URT. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Surat Thani Airport (URT).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/URT.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Surat Thani Airport (URT). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/URT (Accessed: 23 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_urt,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Surat Thani Airport (URT)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/URT},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/URT}},
urldate = {2026-10-23},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-23}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/URT |title=Surat Thani Airport (URT) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-23 |language=en}}