Adjustments to the planning of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City are expected to be completed for approval in June, the Transport Ministry said on May 29. 

Aircraft at Tan Son Nhat International Airport 

The ministry said it has reported to Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung on the adjusted planning. 

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAA) is also striving to complete the planning scheme which will be re-submitted to the Transport Ministry and get feedback from other ministries, agencies and the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, according to the ministry.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has agreed with the proposal of the French consultant company ADP-I to build a new passenger terminal south of Tan Son Nhat airport as part of the airport expansion plan.

The terminal, with infrastructure meeting international standards, is expected to serve 20 million passengers per year, helping increase the capacity of the airport to handle 50 million passengers per annum by 2025.

Tan Son Nhat International Airport has become seriously overloaded, forcing many flights to wait in the air to land. The airport has a design capacity of 25 million passengers but the passenger throughput in 2016 was 32 million and in 2017 over 36 million, making the expansion of the airport an urgent task.

The French firm recommended building support facilities including a cargo terminal and an aircraft maintenance station in the airport’s northern area.

According to the PM, this could handle overload in air transport, ensure effective land use and reduce investment costs and guarantee safety and security in line with regulations of the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

The May 29 meeting also heard that the CAA has completed negotiations with contractors to sign a consultancy agreement on making a feasible study report on Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai. 

A feasible study report on the eastern part of the North-South Expressway has also been completed. 

At the meeting, Transport Minister Nguyen Van The asked relevant ministries to speed up the implementation of ongoing projects, explaining that only 7.8 trillion VND (343.2 million USD) out of 23.9 trillion VND (1.05 billion USD) set for 2018 was disbursed in the first five months of this year. 

The Transport Ministry also reported that more than 7,400 traffic accidents were recorded between January-May, killing over 3,400 people and injuring more than 5,700 others, decreases of 534 cases, 15 fatalities and 825 injured.-VNA