Phu Cat Airport was built in the 1960s and 1970s and began operating civil aviation in 1985. After 60 years of use, the only runway has deteriorated, its load capacity is low, and it can only handle reduced-load aircraft such as A320/321 and equivalent. The aircraft parking lot has 7 parking positions, a passenger terminal and synchronous technical infrastructure, meeting the design capacity of about 2 million passengers/year.
Phu Cat Airport planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050, has added runway 2 mainly for civil aviation exploitation, built more aircraft parking spaces, expanded the passenger terminal, and rearranged the civil and military aviation areas...
Chairman of Binh Dinh Provincial People's Committee Pham Anh Tuan said that Phu Cat Airport plays an important role in developing tourism and attracting investors to the locality. However, the current situation of Phu Cat Airport is a bottleneck that needs to be resolved.
“The most urgent issue now is to build runway No. 2 with the estimated cost of connecting taxiways and other works in the airport area, with a total investment of about 3,013 billion VND,” said Mr. Pham Anh Tuan, and proposed to use local budget capital to clear the ground, move infrastructure works (about 1,008 billion VND); prepare investment procedures to build runway No. 2.
According to the Ministry of Transport, it is necessary to soon build runway No. 2 of Phu Cat airport to meet the socio-economic development needs of the locality. In the context that the Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV) - the airport management and operation unit, has not been able to balance capital for investment in the 2021-2025 period, the Ministry supports the assignment of the People's Committee of Binh Dinh province to invest in the construction of runway No. 2 and other works in the airport area.
While waiting for the policy allowing the use of local budgets to invest in port infrastructure, the Ministry of Transport recommends that Binh Dinh province implement investment preparation procedures and site clearance in advance according to the planning with local capital and arrange the central budget to support the project.
According to Phu Cat Airport Planning, in the period of 2021-2030, Phu Cat airport will have a capacity of 5 million passengers and 12,000 tons of cargo per year, and can operate code C aircraft such as A320/A321 and equivalent. By 2050, the airport will have a capacity of 7 million passengers and 27,000 tons of cargo per year, operating code C aircraft and equivalent.
Located 30km northwest of Quy Nhon city center, Phu Cat airport currently has a two-story terminal with a designed capacity of 2.5 million passengers per year; a runway over 3,000m long, 45m wide and 7 parking positions.
In recent years, Binh Dinh's tourism industry has developed, so Phu Cat airport is often overloaded, especially during holidays and Tet. It is forecasted that by 2025, the locality will welcome about 7.5 million passengers and increase to 12 million by 2030.
Leaders of the Ministry of Planning and Investment, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance discussed and analyzed the legal basis and regulations on public investment, budget, aviation... to respond to the petition of Binh Dinh province.
At the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha assigned the Ministry of Transport to base on its authority and regulations of the Civil Aviation Law; coordinate with the ministries of Planning and Investment, Finance, National Defense, Natural Resources and Environment... to advise and submit to the Prime Minister for decision to assign Binh Dinh province as the competent authority to invest in the construction of runway No. 2 of Phu Cat Airport.
