The government of HCMC on May 16 wrote to the Ministry of Transport throwing its weight behind a major plan to revise up the capacity of Tan Son Nhat International Airport to 45 million passengers a year.

A view of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC. The government of HCMC on May 16 threw its weight behind a major plan to revise up the capacity of Tan Son Nhat International Airport to 45 million passengers a year 

The city approved of construction of more taxiways, Terminal T4 with an annual capacity of 15 million passengers, more aircraft parking slots and a technical area north of the airport.

As the current roads around the airport will not be able to meet a pickup in vehicle traffic which will be triggered by an increase in Tan Son Nhat’s passenger handling capacity, the city requested the Ministry of Transport to seek Government approval for an adjustment of the urban and traffic planning in the area around the airport. 

The revision will ensure that the airport would be efficiently operated, traffic congestion reduced and impacts on the existing residential areas minimized.

The airport is currently designed to handle 25 million passengers a year but the actual figure last year surpassed 32.5 million passengers.

SGT