Tan Son Nhat International Airport will have an additional 18 aircraft parking slots just in time for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, or Tet, when air travel demand normally surges.

Do Tat Binh, deputy general director of Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), said contractors have to speed up the construction pace to ensure these parking slots would be up and running on time.

A 15-hectare lot behind the international terminal is being upgraded to make room for eight more parking slots for A321 jetliners.

In addition, ACV will make use of area A41 along Cong Hoa Street, an area of Vietnam Airlines Engineering Company (VAECO) and hangars to increase the plane parking space at the airport. Besides, a 19.63-hectare military land which had been handed over to the Ministry of Transport can be used to accommodate 10 planes which stay overnight at the airport.

Tan Son Nhat may have a total of 90 commercial and overnight aircraft parking slots, easing the shortage of aircraft parking space during Tet holiday.

The airport may receive 842-865 flights carrying some 134,200 passengers a day in the peak Tet period, up 12% and 15% over last year respectively.

The airport is equipped with two more carry-on baggage scanners at the international terminal. At the domestic terminal, a full body scanner will be installed at Hall A and another at Hall B, taking the total to nine.

Check-in counters will be increased to 130 at the domestic terminal and 100 at the international terminal, up by 15 and 20 respectively. ACV has coordinated with air carriers to arrange an extra 23 check-in kiosks including ten in the domestic terminal and 12 in the international terminal to avoid long queues of passengers waiting for check-in procedure.

In addition, the airport has put into use the extension of carousel No. 5, raising the baggage handling capacity of this carousel from three flights to five an hour. The luggage handling capacity of the domestic terminal is now 20 flights an hour, up by three.

The check-in area at Hall B in the domestic terminal has been expanded by 700 square meters.

In related news, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has proposed the Import-Export Duty Department under the General Department of Vietnam Customs exempt taxes on equipment of Qatar Airways as stated in a bilateral aviation agreement between Vietnam and Qatar signed on March 8, 2009.

CAAV also sent a list of 83 foreign airlines which are allowed to operate flights to Vietnam to the customs and other agencies for consideration to cut customs duties for these airlines.

SGT