The Vietnamese government is accelerating the construction of the Long Thanh international airport, a major national project in Dong Nai province. Once operational in 2025, it will become a leading airport in Southeast Asia.

(Photo courtesy of Airports Corporation of Vietnam)

The project to build the Long Thanh international airport was approved in 2015. Two years later, the National Assembly passed a resolution on land acquisition, compensation, and resettlement to move forward with the project.

Like other modern airports, Long Thanh airport is required to meet the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization. It is expected that after 2035, it will accommodate 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of air cargo per year.

It will become a regional transit hub, serve the national air transportation development strategy, and drive the economic growth in the southern region and the nation as a whole.

Lai Xuan Thanh, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam, said, “This will be the premier airport of Vietnam. Thus, it’s necessary to apply the most advanced technologies to make Long Thanh on par with the best airports in the world.”

Covering an area of six communes of Long Thanh district, the new airport is about 40 km east of Ho Chi Minh City.

Tran Van Vinh, Vice Chairman of the Dong Nai Provincial People's Committee, said the province will issue a one-off compensation package to get the project go ahead.

“We plan to make a comprehensive statistics report first. Next year, when a new price quotation is publicized, we’ll conduct a one-off compensation so that there will be no difference between this year and next year’s prices. The land clearance payment for people in the affected areas will be conducted at a time,” said Vinh.

Located at the heart of Southeast Asia, Long Thanh will be a regional airport with service to Europe, the Middle East, Northeast Asia, North America, and Oceania. It will also be a transit hub for passengers and cargo.

Long Thanh is expected to be a state-of-the-art airport with diverse aviation and non-aviation services and an airport city with industrial, trade, service and tourism centers.

National Assembly deputy Duong Trung Quoc of Dong Nai province noted, “The Long Thanh airport will benefit the whole region and Vietnam. But there are many difficulties. We need to develop a legal framework for the project. But before any of that, we should proactively advance our own solutions.”

Located 40 km from Ho Chi Minh City, 30 km from the industrial city of Bien Hoa, and 70km from the seaside resort of Vung Tau, Long Thanh airport will be an extraordinary economic catalyst for the region and neighboring areas.

It will improve the competitiveness of Vietnam’s air transportation industry, increase the connection between Vietnam and the world, and boost national tourism development. Moreover, about 200,000 jobs will be created under the project.