AIRPORT REPORT: VIETNAM’S AIRPORT SYSTEM
Can Tho Airport’s planned new international terminal. The general director of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism,
Nguyen Van Tuan, is also pleased with the results of SAC’s investments at Phu Quoc, Can Tho and Lien Khuong. “These are all growing tourism destinations for Vietnam, so it is
important that we seize the opportunity and provide them with good international airports,” he enthuses. The new airport at Phu Quoc is being built to help the Vietnamese
government realise its dream of transforming the destination into a hotspot for eco-tourism as well as a leading regional centre for finance and scientific and technological research and development. When it opens in the third quarter of 2012, the new airport
will be equipped with a B747 friendly 3,000m long runway and a state-of-the-art terminal building initially capable of accommodating 4mppa. “Work started on the new terminal in 2008 and is going well,” says
Hung. “It will feature separate levels for arrivals and departures and some of the most modern airport technology in the region.” It will replace Phu Quoc’s small existing gateway, which has simply
been outgrown by traffic demand that has risen by 38% per year for five of the last 10 years. Once again, the government is offering a range of route development
incentives to airlines to launch services from the airport, such as taking the unprecedented step of agreeing to waive the need for visas for visitors staying 15 days or less. Such is SAC’s faith in the project that it believes that the airport
could be handling more than 2.6mppa by 2020. Ho Chi Minh’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport, however, remains
the jewel in the crown of SAC and Vietnam’s airport system, accounting for more than half of all passengers handled nationwide. A total of 13.7 million passengers (+11%) used the gateway in 2009
and SAC is confident that it will grow by a similar figure this year to pass the 15mpppa milestone for the first time in its history.
36 AIRPORT WORLD/OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2010 And with demand at an all-time high, Hung believes that passenger
numbers will continue to soar by an average of 12% per annum for the next five years to reach 25.7mppa in 2015. So what makes state-owned SAC so sure about the upturn in
TSN’s fortunes? Well, the fact that economic growth in Vietnam has been among the highest in the world for the past decade certainly breeds confidence. The growth, triggered by economic and political reforms
started back in 1986, culminated in Vietnam joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2007 and its successful bid to become a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council in 2008. The other reason to be optimistic is the opening of the gateway’s
$216 million Terminal 2 that has made TSN a much more passenger friendly airport and massively improved its appeal to airlines. Both improvements were necessary as TSN is quite simply the
largest gateway in Vietnam, handling 75% of all international visitors arriving by air and 55% of the passengers handled across the country’s airports. Funded by Official Development Assistance (ODA) from Japan and
constructed by the KTOM consortium comprising Japanese firms Kajima, Taisei, Obayashi and Maeda, Terminal 2 has raised the airport’s capacity to 17mppa and is one of the most modern airport facilities in South East Asia. Built on four levels and covering a total floor space of 92,920sqm,
T2 is equipped with eight boarding bridges capable of handling aircraft up to the size of a B747, 36 immigration counters and 80 check-in desks fitted with CUTE technology provided by ARINC. The terminal’s six baggage carousels are designed to handle up to
3,000 bags per hour and the facility’s range of shops, restaurants and other commercial outlets include a healthcare centre, entertainment complex, a hotel and CIP and VIP lounges.
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