VietNamNet Bridge – Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has proposed expanding Phu Quoc International Airport to meet increasing demand for air travel to and from the resort island of the same name off mainland Kien Giang Province.

A Jetstar Pacific aircraft sits at Phu Quoc International Airport. ACV plans to expand the airport to meet rising demand for air travel to and from the resort island – Photo: Le Anh

According to ACV’s prefeasibility study for the project, flights from and to Phu Quoc Airport have risen by 446 flights per year since it was put into operation three years ago. The number of passengers at the airport has grown 28-46% a year over the past three years.

The airport is expected to reach its designed passenger handling capacity of 2.65 million people by 2017 instead of 2020 as earlier estimated, according to ACV.

Many new resorts and hotels have helped attract more visitors to Phu Quoc, especially those coming by air to the island. A number of international airlines have launched services to the island.

Despite an upsurge in passengers, the airport’s terminal has only two boarding gates for domestic flights and two others for international flights. That is why congestion will happen when there are more than four departure flights at a time.

The airport has no airbridge, so passengers take a bus to the parking lot for boarding. They would wait long if there are many takeoffs and landings.   

Therefore, the expansion project will raise the airport’s annual capacity to four million passengers, and the number of boarding gates to a dozen, including eight for domestic flights and the rest for international services, and four airbridges.

ACV estimates the project’s investment cost at over VND1 trillion (US$45.9 million). The corporation plans to submit the project to competent agencies for consideration and approval in September and work towards the design from October to December.

The expansion project is scheduled to get off the ground next March and be completed in April 2017.  

A number of local firms showed keen interest in operating Phu Quoc International Airport after the Ministry of Transport revealed a plan to transfer its operation rights to domestic or foreign investors.

Phu Quoc International Airport meeting 4E standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and accommodating modern aircraft like Boeing 777s and Boeing 747-400s was put into service in late 2012. Its investment cost was VND3 trillion sourced from ACV.

The airport served one million passengers in 2014 and 295,720 passengers in the first quarter of this year, up 44.61% year-on-year. It is expected to handle 2.65 million passengers a year until 2020 and seven million passengers after 2030.