AIRPORT REPORT: VIETNAM’S AIRPORT SYSTEM
Build and grow W
hen it comes to airport development, with the exception of possibly China and India, few countries on the planet can match Vietnam’s highly ambitious expansion programme. On the agenda are plans to expand Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat
International Airport, despite the gateway only opening its new terminal three years ago. Capital Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport is also being upgraded to
handle up to 20mppa by 2020 – more than double today’s annual throughput of eight million passengers. A new $60 million airport will open at Phu Quoc in the southern
province of Kien Giang in late 2012 as the government looks to transform Vietnam’s largest island into one of South East Asia’s leading tourist and business destinations. Rising demand means that the government has also approved a
$640 million upgrade to Phu Bai International Airport in the central city of Hue in Thua Thien-Hue Province. While Chu Lai International Airport, in the central province of
Quang Nam, is to undergo a $700 million facelift to raise its capacity to 2.2 million passengers and 1.5 million tonnes of cargo per annum by 2015 and 4.1mppa and fi ve million tonnes of cargo by 2025. Elsewhere, the Civil Aviation Administration (CAAV) insists that Long
Thanh International Airport – a proposed new $3 billion gateway for Ho Chi Minh that will ultimately be capable of handling 100mppa – is still very much on the radar and could open as early as 2015.
34 AIRPORT WORLD/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2010
Vietnam is building new airports and transforming its existing gateways to cope with rapidly rising demand, writes Joe Bates.
The planned developments follow the opening of major new facilities
at both Lien Khuong and Can Tho airports in the last two years as part of the ongoing overhaul of Vietnam’s airport system. The CAAV’s aim is to develop a network of 26 airports that will include
10 international gateways by 2020, and it predicts that the big build will cost at least $5.5 billion and be fi nanced by the government, international development agency funds and foreign investment capital. Such ambitious plans ensure that these are busy and exciting times for
Vietnam’s Southern Airports Corporation (SAC), which is responsible for operating Ho Chi Minh–Tan Son Nhat (TSN) and seven other gateways: Buon Ma Thuot, Lien Khuong, Rach Gia, Ca Mau, Con Dao, Phu Quoc and Can Tho. Chairman of the board and general director of SAC, Nguyen Nguyen
Hung, is certainly proud of what has been achieved at Lien Khuong and Can Tho airports over recent years. Newly upgraded and re-opened Lien Khuong Airport is located in the
mountainous Duc Trong region of Lam Dong province, which is between 800m and 1,500m above sea level. Its infrastructure includes a 3,250m runway, newly improved
taxiways, aircraft apron, the latest navigational aids and a modern new passenger terminal building capable of handling 2mppa. Hung says the $15 million modernisation programme has taken
the airport to the next level by “improving the quality of service offered to both airlines and passengers and allowing it to operate 24 hours a day if necessary”.
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