The above information was announced by Mr. Uong Viet Dung - Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam - at an international conference with the theme "Long Thanh - Tan Son Nhat International Airport: Shaping the national air gateway, towards regional transit centers in the new era" held on September 11 in Ho Chi Minh City.
Mr. Uong Viet Dung affirmed that Long Thanh is planned as a modern international airport, aiming to become a transit hub for Southeast Asia and Asia - Pacific.
The Government pays special attention, regularly directs and requests to shorten the progress, striving to complete the project by the end of 2025 and put it into operation by mid-2026.
According to Mr. Dung, to effectively exploit Long Thanh airport, there needs to be a clear and synchronous transition scenario for infrastructure, services, and trade; at the same time, ensuring coordination of operations in parallel with Tan Son Nhat, avoiding disruption in aviation operations.
Up to now, the Civil Aviation Authority has not yet finalized the final plan, but continues to listen to multi-dimensional opinions from experts to passengers.
"The highest goal is safety and efficiency, making Long Thanh a symbol of development, a new socio-economic driving force of the country, while raising Ho Chi Minh City to become a regional financial and economic center" - Mr. Dung emphasized.
At the workshop, Mr. Pham Minh Hai - Director of the Academy of Strategy and Training for Construction Cadres (Ministry of Construction) - said that currently, the connection of Long Thanh with Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring localities mainly relies on National Highway 51 and the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh Expressway, which are overloaded and often congested.
The lack of a direct railway line to the airport limits transportation capacity and passenger choice.
To overcome this, Mr. Hai suggested that it is necessary to quickly supplement the inter-regional route planning across the Dong Nai River - Cat Lai Bridge; speed up the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh Expressway; soon complete the Bien Hoa - Vung Tau Expressway, Ben Luc - Long Thanh Expressway; at the same time, deploy the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway along with routes DT773, DT770B, DT769...
Architect Ngo Viet Nam Son - specializing in urban planning - said that Long Thanh needs to be exploited according to a three-step roadmap.
In the first phase, when the regional infrastructure and metro lines are not yet complete, the airport should only share some of the pressure with Tan Son Nhat, while focusing on developing freight transport.
In phase two, after completing the airport transportation and urban system, it is possible to transfer more international routes.
In the final step, Long Thanh will become the leading airport in Southeast Asia, integrated with an airport urban area, free trade zone and highway network, metro - similar to the model of Singapore or Amsterdam.
"We should not give Long Thanh too much responsibility from the beginning. It is necessary to make adjustments to both make it convenient for passengers and economically efficient" - Mr. Son emphasized.
The representative of the Incheon Airport consortium - the consulting unit - proposed two scenarios: either transferring all international flights to Long Thanh, or dividing the operation between the two airports.
The international focus plan in Long Thanh will help optimize resources, avoid overlapping procedures, and create a seamless experience for passengers.
On the contrary, the division of exploitation risks causing confusion, reducing competitiveness, and even causing 10% of transit passengers to choose other centers such as Bangkok or Singapore.
It is forecasted that the international passenger traffic in Long Thanh could reach 2 million in 2029, 5 million in 2043 and nearly 92 million in 2060, with a compound growth rate of 4.52%/year.
The consulting consortium believes that focusing on international flights in Long Thanh is considered a key strategy to enhance Vietnam's aviation position in the region.
