The cabinet has granted permission to the United States to station 16 planes for three weeks at U-tapao airport in Rayong’s Ban Chang district as part of the quake relief operation in Nepal, navy chief Kraisorn Chansuvanich said Monday.
The cabinet last Thursday approved a request to set up the Thai-US HADR Combined Coordination Centre for Nepal at the airport after a request by the US, Adm Kraisorn said.
The 16 planes permitted at U-tapao are transport and aerial refuelling aircraft, he said.
The US asked to use U-tapao because Kathmandu airport is overcrowded, said Rear Adm Kraisri Kesorn, deputy chief of the Royal Thai Armed Forces’ Directorate of Joint Operations.
The first plane from the US landed at the airport last Friday and planes will carry on using U-tapao until the end of the month, he said.
U-tapao was last used as a US disaster relief base exactly seven years ago, after Cyclone Nargis hit and ravaged Myanmar.
The airbase has frequently served as a headquarters for Cobra Gold war games, with hundreds of US military aircraft based temporarily at U-tapao, ranging from helicopters to fighter-bombers and huge transport and refuelling planes.
