Ubon Ratchathani Airport

Updated 29th Aug 2026

Ubon Ratchathani Airport (UBP) serves Thailand's lower northeast. The Royal Thai Air Force owns the field and the Department of Airports runs the civil side of it, so the terminal sits beside a working military base. The department's own name for it is Ubon Ratchathani International Airport, although the only destination in current published route data is Bangkok.

A shared field, and what is on it

The single paved runway is given as about 3,000 metres, which is long for an airport whose scheduled traffic is all domestic. A business-aviation handbook lists the control tower as staffed around the clock, and customs and immigration as available on request rather than standing.

That handbook carries no revision date, so treat the customs and immigration line as a question to put to your airline or handler rather than as the airport's current standing arrangement.

Where Ubon Ratchathani Airport is, and how to contact it

The airport's address is 297 Thep Yothi Road, Nai Mueang subdistrict, Mueang district, Ubon Ratchathani 34000. It is close in rather than out beyond the city, and third-party guides put the drive to the centre at 10 to 15 minutes. The telephone number is 045 245612 and the fax is 045 244406.

Which airlines fly to Ubon Ratchathani Airport

Nok Air, Thai AirAsia, Thai Airways, Thai Lion Air and Thai Vietjet Air all serve the airport, and all of them fly to Bangkok. Current published route data lists no other non-stop destination from here, so a listing that still shows a Chiang Mai service is not describing what is on sale now.

What happened to Thai Smile at Ubon Ratchathani

Thai Smile no longer exists, so any roster that still names it is out of date. Its nine domestic routes went to its parent as the subsidiary was folded in, and Nation Thailand reported in November 2023 that Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani passed to Thai Airways from 1 January 2024.

Which Bangkok airport your Ubon Ratchathani flight uses

Both Bangkok airports are in play here, so the airline decides which one you want rather than the city name. The code on the booking settles it: DMK is Don Mueang and BKK is Suvarnabhumi. They are separate airports with the city between them, so check the code before you book anything that connects.

The timetable, and the traffic behind it

Thai Airways and Thai AirAsia both pulled capacity out of Ubon Ratchathani in mid-2026, each saying the change was temporary and each blaming jet fuel costs and weak mid-year demand. Thai Airways trimmed its service across May, and Thai AirAsia cut the Don Mueang route through May and June without suspending it. Changes of that kind arrive at short notice, so a same-day onward connection out of Bangkok is worth leaving room around.

The passenger figures give the longer view. Published statistics put the airport at 1,306,445 passengers in 2024, against a peak of 1,832,340 in 2018, so 2024 was still well short of where the airport had been.

Getting into the city

The airport has its own public transport building, which the Department of Airports lists as the Ground Interchange Building. A currency exchange counter is listed in the terminal as well.

The department names those facilities without publishing what runs from the interchange building or when. Third-party guides describe taxi counters selling coupons in the arrivals hall, with tuk-tuks and songthaews as the budget option, so confirm at the counter rather than planning around it.

The candle festival, and when it falls

The city holds a candle festival each year, when carved beeswax floats are gathered at Thung Si Mueang and paraded through the centre on the final morning. It falls around Asalha Bucha and Khao Phansa, which move each year with the lunar calendar, so it lands in July or early August. In 2026 it ran from 28 to 30 July.

What the government has planned for the airport

In August 2026 Ubon Ratchathani was named one of six regional airports singled out for upgrade, with Surat Thani, Khon Kaen, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Udon Thani and Krabi. Nation Thailand reported that the work covers terminal capacity, safety installations, airspace and traffic management, a specialised flight information service, and faster approval of new routes. The same reporting put each of the six at between 2,500 and 5,000 passengers a day during 2025.

Ubon Ratchathani routes with schedules on this site

This site holds schedule pages for the Bangkok route in both directions: Ubon Ratchathani to Bangkok and Bangkok to Ubon Ratchathani. The city and the province around it are covered in the Ubon Ratchathani destination guide.