Getting to a Thai island is rarely the short part of the trip. You check in a couple of hours early, queue, and then sit in a narrow cabin with a few hundred other people. At the other end you wait for your bag, and there is usually a bus between the plane and the terminal. Bangkok handles that well enough, because the airports are big and they are built for it. Somewhere like Samui, small island and small airport, the same routine takes a good part of the day.
Seaplanes in Thailand are the answer to that day, and Siam Seaplane is the operator closest to delivering it. Siam Seaplane is a Thai charter airline founded in 2019 and based at Don Mueang in Bangkok. It flies an amphibious Cessna Grand Caravan around the country, and for now the flying is between airports while the first water landing sites work their way through approval.
What aircraft does Siam Seaplane fly?
One aeroplane does most of the work. It is a Cessna Grand Caravan 208 EX, amphibious, fitted out for up to eight guests with reclining leather seats, a pair of chairs facing back into the cabin, wooden tables that fold away and a small sofa at the rear. There is no cockpit door, so the whole thing feels like one room with the pilots at the front of it.
It flies low on purpose, between 2,000 and 9,000 feet, which keeps the coast in view the whole way.
The company ordered six more Grand Caravans during 2026, which would take the fleet to seven, and it has said it wants 15 amphibious aircraft inside five years. It also arranges bigger charter aircraft when a group or a route needs one, from light jets up to Gulfstreams.
Where does Siam Seaplane fly from Bangkok and Phuket?
The base is the private terminal at Don Mueang, on the north side of Bangkok, and a second hub is planned for Phuket. The aircraft runs both fixed departures and charter on request.
Hua Hin and Pattaya are short hops from Bangkok, close enough that leaving after work on a Friday makes sense. Chiang Mai sits further north. Krabi and Phuket are the longer runs south. From Phuket, Phi Phi is a matter of minutes in the air, against the better part of a day by road and boat. The same aircraft handles scenic flights and medical evacuation work around Thailand.
The Hua Hin route opened in January 2025 out of the Don Mueang private lounge, and launched with tie ups at five Hua Hin resorts, which gives a good sense of who it was built for.
What happens before a seaplane flight takes off
A flight like this starts hours before anyone boards.
The operations team looks at local wind, air density and the day’s weather, and picks the smoothest route it can. Crew and engineers work out where the weight sits, balancing fuel, passengers and luggage so the aircraft is loaded evenly. Once the electronic checks are done, the pilots walk round the aircraft and go over it by hand: control surfaces, engine covers, sensors, structure. On the ground, someone is matching the air traffic clearance to the car that is meeting you and the bags that are going in the hold. All of it is logged, and the aircraft’s airworthiness is tracked continuously.
What the passenger gets is a car, a lounge and a short walk to the aeroplane. Everything above is why that walk is short.
Thailand seaplane regulations, explained
Commercial seaplane flying became possible in Thailand on 1 July 2025.
That was the day the Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand brought in the country’s first two seaplane rules. TCAR OPS Part SEA sets the standard for how a commercial seaplane operation is run, what the crew are responsible for, and how safety is managed. Regulation No. 101 deals with the water: how a temporary landing area is set up and surveyed, where the water runway and the taxi channels sit, where aircraft moor, and what happens in an emergency. The rules cover aircraft of 5,700 kg or less flying in daylight under visual rules, and an operator needs an air operator certificate to use them.
Siam Seaplane spent years working with the authority on the drafting. “This is a monumental stride for the future of seaplane operations in Thailand,” said Nicholas Heart Addison of Siam Seaplane when the rules were published in July 2025. “The official issuance of these regulations marks a clear commitment by the CAAT.”
The company has held an air operator certificate since 2024 and has been flying between airports ever since, which is worth keeping in mind. The aircraft, the crew and the operation are already running. What is being added now is the water.
Krabi, Thailand’s first approved seaplane landing site
On 25 May 2026 the Krabi Provincial Marine and Coastal Resources Committee approved three temporary water landing points off Tubkaek Beach, on the coast north of Ao Nang.
It came with conditions, and the conditions are the interesting part. The operation has to meet aviation safety law and follow landing procedure. Floating docks have to sit a set distance apart. The effect on marine and coastal resources has to be assessed. And the sea space stays shared with the local community and the boat operators who already work it. Road width and parking around the beach came up in the same meeting, and that sits with the province.
It is one site in one province, and it is also the first, so a good deal of what follows is being planned around it.
When will seaplanes start flying in Thailand?
Siam Seaplane is aiming to begin commercial water landings in 2027, with the remaining approvals working their way through.
The wider plan runs along the Andaman coast and into the Gulf. Sites put forward so far are Tubkaek and Koh Phi Phi, Bangtao and Makham Bay in Phuket, and Koh Yao Noi in Phangnga, with a hub planned at Krabi. Each temporary site needs an environmental examination under a 2023 notification from the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and that is the step the timeline turns on.
The Ministry of Transport has a committee of its own working on air links across the Andaman, with Krabi International Airport as the test case, and seaplanes are part of that programme. All of this is planned rather than scheduled, which is the fairest way to put it.
How much time does a seaplane transfer save?
The journeys the company is aiming at are the long ones. By its own account those trips take 5 to 8 hours by car, ferry and longtail boat, and the target is a single flight of 60 to 90 minutes.
The shape of the day changes as much as the length of it. A private terminal replaces the early check in, the queue and the shared cabin. A water landing puts the aircraft in front of the resort, or at a private dock, which takes out the pier, the baggage hall and the transfer at the far end. Because the aircraft flies low and in daylight, the trip doubles as the scenic flight, over the bays and islands people come to Thailand to look at anyway. Bags are handled the whole way rather than moved between one vehicle and the next.
For now the aircraft flies and the approvals move. The water is close.
Keep reading
For places to go with it, read our guides to five of the best trips from Bangkok by private plane, five smaller islands you can reach from Bangkok, every scenic flight you can take in Thailand and Thailand’s islands, ranked by flight time. To see what the trip is like from the cabin, read our walkthrough of a Bangkok to Koh Samui private flight.
Common questions about seaplanes in Thailand
What is Siam Seaplane?
Siam Seaplane is a Thai charter airline founded in 2019 and based at Don Mueang in Bangkok. It holds an air operator certificate issued in 2024 and flies an amphibious Cessna Grand Caravan 208 EX on charter and fixed routes around Thailand.
When will seaplanes start landing on water in Thailand?
Siam Seaplane is aiming to begin commercial water landings in 2027, with the remaining approvals working their way through. For now the flying is between airports.
Where are Thailand’s approved seaplane landing sites?
On 25 May 2026 the Krabi Provincial Marine and Coastal Resources Committee approved three temporary landing points off Tubkaek Beach in Krabi. Other sites put forward are Koh Phi Phi, Bangtao and Makham Bay in Phuket, and Koh Yao Noi in Phangnga.
What are Thailand’s seaplane regulations?
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand brought in the country’s first commercial seaplane rules on 1 July 2025. TCAR OPS Part SEA covers how the operation is run, the crew and safety management. Regulation No. 101 covers how a temporary water landing area is set up.
How long does a seaplane transfer take in Thailand?
Siam Seaplane says the trips it is aiming at take 5 to 8 hours by car, ferry and longtail boat, and that a single flight would cover them in 60 to 90 minutes. Flying is low and in daylight, so the trip doubles as a scenic flight.
Once in a lifetime — every time
More information: siamseaplane.com
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