The Ministry of Transport is drafting a national airport planning scheme for the 2021-2030 and vision to 2050. 

Van Don is the first private airport in Viet Nam, wholly owned by Sun Group,
a Danang-based property company.

Under the scheme, the number of airport would be increased to 26 by 2030 and 30 by 2050 from the current 22 airports.

Newly proposed airports are Na San (Son La), Lai Chau, Cao Bang, Sa Pa (Lao Cai), Phan Thiet, and Quang Tri.

The Ha Noi metropolitan area, which consists of the capital city of Ha Noi and nine neighboring provinces – Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh, Hai Duong, Hung Yen, Ha Nam, Hoa Binh, Phu Tho, Thai Nguyen and Bac Giang – will have two airports, according to the scheme. 

When the draft national planning scheme was rolled out for comments, authorities of eight other localities namely Ninh Binh, Cao Bang, Ha Tinh, Ninh Thuan, Bac Lieu, Binh Phuoc, Bac Giang, and Ha Giang put also forward proposals to build airports.

Speaking at a recent workshop aiming to seek ideas for national airport system development, Tran Quang Chau, Chairman of the Viet Nam Association on Aviation Science and Technology said the number of airports in Viet Nam remains modest in comparison with other countries and it is normal that localities want to build airports in favor of their socio-economic development.

Chau said Viet Nam’s first national airport planning scheme, which was approved in 1997, took into account of various criteria, including GDP of the nation and each locality, travel demand, export and import activities among others, before deciding where to build an airport.

He suggested the new planning scheme should be developed in the same direction with the previous one to ensure effectiveness.

As the majority of domestic airports have operated below designed capacity, localities should take into account the economic efficiency of proposed airports, said Dr. Nguyen Bach Tung, Deputy Director-General of the Department for Management of Transport Work construction and Quality under the Ministry of Transport 

A representative from the Transport Engineering Design Inc. (TEDI) said the necessity and feasibility of a new airport will be decided on the basis of six major criteria like travel demand, socio-economic development situation, national defense, natural conditions, and distance to the nearby airports.

Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan stressed the need to renew the national airport planning scheme as some of the current airports are overloaded while none of these airports has reached the level of a regional and international transit hub.

In addition, construction of new airports would give a boost to socio-economic development, he added./.