hesitation in transferring will reduce the opportunity to establish a hub position of Long Thanh airport

Establishing the status of regional transit hub of Long Thanh airport

On November 3, Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV) has just sent a report to the Ministry of Construction and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam on the proposal of Vietnam Airlines (VNA) and determined the route for transfer and exploitation between Tan Son Nhat International Airport and Long Thanh International Airport (abbreviated as Tan Son Nhat and Long Thanh).

Accordingly, ACV believes that out of a total of 3.16 million passengers connecting flights in Tan Son Nhat in 2024, domestic airlines account for 95% of output, and are the main force in connecting domestic - international and international - domestic flights.

Therefore, the active participation of domestic airlines in Long Thanh will determine the success of the Long Thanh International Airport Project in achieving design output and the position of international transit center.

ACV Deputy General Director Nguyen Duc Hung said that if domestic airlines hesitate to move operations to Long Thanh airport on schedule in the first phase, there will be many potential risks.

First of all, it will reduce the speed of input output formation for Long Thanh, affecting the project's ability to achieve project goals and promote investment efficiency. Along with that, it reduces the opportunity to establish a regional transit "hub" position in Vietnam, while rival airports such as Suvarnabhumi (Thailand), Changi (Singapore) or Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) are rapidly expanding passenger routes from Vietnam.

ACV also cited the analysis of consulting firm IAC, saying that if international routes are not concentrated in Long Thanh, it will lead to manh of the flight network, causing Vietnamese airlines to lose market share in foreign airlines and the output could decrease by 8.8%, equivalent to a loss of more than 2 million passengers/year in the initial phase of operation. In the long term, it may cause a delay of 8 - 9 years for the growth of passenger volume of Long Thanh International Airport.

ACV proposes 3 transfer phases between Tan Son Nhat - Long Thanh

ACV proposed a roadmap for the transfer and exploitation of international route groups in 3 phases.

Phase 1 starts from the time Long Thanh airport is put into commercial operation until the end of the winter flight schedule in 2026, transferring to Long Thanh the group of long-distance flights including international long-distance routes to Europe, the US, Australia, Africa, South Asia and Central Asia... helping to create stable ground output for Long Thanh right from the first stage, while forming the international image of the port as a gateway for transcontinental flights. Temporarily maintain short flights to Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia in Tan Son Nhat to facilitate domestic airlines in adjusting their operating plans...

Next, phase 2 will start from the summer flight schedule in 2027. At that time, all international flights and flights will be transferred to Long Thanh, except for short routes under 1,000 km operated by domestic airlines. This phase transition group includes flights to Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia. This route group accounts for more than 70% of international passenger output from Ho Chi Minh City, and is the most important source of visitors to form Long Thanh's international transit capacity.

Tan Son Nhat will continue to play the role of domestic exploitation center and short routes under 1,000 km (Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, part of Malaysia) operated by domestic airlines...

Finally, phase 3 is considered the completion stage after 2028 when Long Thanh achieves an international exploitation output of over 80% of the designed capacity, gradually moving all regular international routes to Long Thanh to focus on the entire international flight network. Tan Son Nhat operates domestic flights and unusual international commercial flights, charter flights...