Tan Son Nhat Airport is overloaded with passengers in January 2023. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran
Vietnam’s largest airport, Tan Son Nhat in HCMC, is still overloaded, reducing the country’s competitiveness, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said.
Despite its modernization, it is still unable to meet the demand for passenger and cargo transportation, Chinh said on Thursday during the inauguration ceremony of a terminal at Tan Son Nhat Airport and the New Long Thanh Airport in Dong Nai.
“By 2024, the airport will be overloaded to more than twice its capacity, and its infrastructure has deteriorated and is obsolete after many years of use, affecting the quality of service and reducing the country’s competitiveness,” he said. said Chinh.
On Thursday, a flight carrying Transport Minister Nguyen Van Thang was affected by an overload at Tan Son Nhat and had to be diverted to Nha Trang.
Tan Son Nhat Airport has welcomed 36 million passengers per year since 2017, or nearly 100,000 per day on average, exceeding its planned capacity of 25 million per year.
Chinh said the two projects would help establish Vietnam as a major regional and global transportation hub, promoting development and improving national competitiveness.
The Long Thanh Airport terminal, covering an area of 150 hectares, will cost 35 trillion dong ($1.5 billion) and will have 40 gates.
Its opening is scheduled for 2026.
It has a lotus-shaped design and will feature artificial waterfalls and gardens.
The construction of Terminal T3 at Tan Son Nhat Airport will cost VND 10.99 trillion and take 20 months.
It will have high-rise car parks, a system of viaducts and other infrastructure and services.
When completed, it will be used as one of two domestic terminals and will have a capacity of 20 million passengers per year.
Tan Son Nhat’s third terminal design. Video of Tuan Viet, Do Nam