PATTAYA, 20 June 2018.Qatar Airways has cut flights to U-tapao near Pattaya from four to three weekly and added a stop in Yangon, Myanmar, on the outbound route from Doha.
Qatar previously flew four weekly services direct from Doha to U-tapao using a 254-seat Dreamliner.
The introduction of the route was touted as a major turning point for the east coast airport’s campaign to attract more international airlines.
But low-season traffic is poor and the latest tourist arrivals from the Middle East to Thailand declined by around 30% during May.
According to Airlineroute timetable information the airline has switched to a three weekly service departing Doha on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, cutting out the Sunday flight.
To match the decline in bookings on the route to U-tapao, the airline also downsized the aircraft from a Dreamliner series 8 to the smaller 110 seat Airbus 319 (long-range).
It has also inserted a stop in Yangon, the commercial capital of Myanmar, on the outbound leg from Doha. The triangle route is now Doha-Yangon-U-tapao- Doha.
The changes were introduced 1 June and will remain in place until 31 October when airlines switch to what is called the ‘winter schedule.’
Qatar Airways introduced four direct flights to U-tapao, 36 km south of Pattaya, 28 January, 2018.
The four-weekly service from Doha to U-tapao became the airline’s fifth route to Thailand. It already served Bangkok, Krabi, Phuket and started a service to Chiang Mai, 12 December 2017.
U-tapao is a navy-owned airport that was originally built during the Vietnam War to accommodate the US B52 bombers.
According to the revised timetable the Doha-Yangon-U-tapao-Doha service departs Doha at 1940 and arrives in Yangon at 0530 on the following morning. It flies to U-tapao at 0825 and then departs from U-tapao at 0925, to arrive in Doha at 1300.
