Long Thanh International Airport Terminal (Potential)

Long Thanh International Airport ( Vietnamese: Sân bay Quốc tế Long Thành) is an airport planned for construction in Long Thanh, Dong Nai Province, southern Vietnam, approx 40 km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City. It is intended to become operational by 2011 and handle over 100 million passengers annually when it is built to the maximum designed capacity.

Urgent necessity of a new airport

Tan Son Nhat International Airport is the only international airport in the South of Vietnam. The airport was built during the World War with the aim of supporting war transportation, hence its location inside the crowded Ho Chi Minh City where its growth is limited by space constraints. Due to location and safety issues, it is very hard to expand to meet the increasing annual growth of passengers.

The flow of international tourists to the South of Vietnam is increasing dramatically, by 15 to 20 percent annually. To motivate the domestic market (current population of 83 million, forecast of 100 million by 2020) it is necessary to build a new airport that can adapt to future needs.

Tan Son Nhat airport will serve the domestic market after the completion of the new Long Thanh International Airport.

The Master Plan

The Master Plan for Long Thanh International Airport was approved by the Prime Minister Phan Văn Khải in 2006. The airport will cover an area of 50 square kilometres. It will have four runways (4,000 m x 60 m), five terminals and concourses with a maximum capacity of up to 80 to 100 million passengers a year. The cargo terminal will be able to handle up to 5 million metric tones of cargo per annum. The total cost of construction is estimated around US$8 billion, invested from the government's investment budget, private and foreign funds.

Based on the demand of transportation, the investment will be divided in phases. The Southern Airport Authority (an organization under The Ministry of Transportation of Viet Nam) is in charge of development of this project.

Number of air passengers in Vietnam's airports will reach 82 million by 2020. ^[1]

Phase 1 (2010-2015)

The initial phase will begin in 2010 and finish in 2015. Upon completion of this phase, this airport will have a capacity of 20 million passengers per year. It will have a passenger terminal, 2 parallel runways (4,000 m x 60 m) allowing for two simultaneous take-offs or landings, and it is capable of receiving the large Airbus A380 super-jumbo and the Boeing 747. The estimated capital is 3 billion US$.

Along with the existing 51A Highway, two new government planned expressways are to built to facilitate transportation to and from the new airport. These express-ways being:

1. The Ho Chi Minh - Long Thanh - Dau Day 10-lane expressway (connecting the airport to Ho Chi Minh City).

1. The Bien Hoa – Vung Tau 8-lane expressway (linking Bien Hoa city and Vung Tau city).

Phase 2 (After 2015)

Phase 2 will begin after 2015. Another terminal and a third runway will be built increasing the airport's capacity to 40 million passengers and 5 million metric tonnes of cargo per year. After completion of the phase, based on the growth of passengers, this airport will be expanded to its full design capacity.