HCM City Department of Transport has commissioned experts to draft four different solutions to expand or adjust the Tan Son Nhat Airport's planning to increase capacity.

First, they will review the plan to expand the airport southward by the Ministry of Transport. For the second plan, they won't expand the airport but adjust the traffic routes inside the airport and improve the air traffic control unit.

The third plan is to expand the airport toward the golf course in the north with more terminals and runways. The airport will be able to serve 50 million passengers per year. The fourth plan is similar to the third, except that they will build even more runways to improve the airport capacity to 70-90 million passengers per year.

HCM City authorities previously asked the prime minister to provide special treatment to shorten the foreign consultant hiring process from 12 to six months. HCM City authorities will also attend the reviewing process with involved agencies. They hope to use of the golf course as part of the expansion.

According to the Department of Transport, they and other experts are reviewing all of the airport from the runway, plane parking lot to the current equipment and air traffic management ability.

The research will be completed in September and submitted to the prime minister.  

32 million passengers used Tan Son Nhat Airport last year and the number is expected to increase by three million this year. The airport is facing congestion both in the air and in terms of road access. It needs more runways and a parking lot for 80 planes compared to its current 51-plane capacity. Planes sometimes have to circle the airport for 30 minutes waiting for space to be made available.

The airport is overcrowded during holidays while the routes leading to the airport also face traffic jams.

dtinews