On February 9, speaking at the visit and Tet greetings to the Party Committee, government and people of Ho Chi Minh City, General Secretary To Lam proposed that the city invest in synchronous transport infrastructure, shortening the travel time from the center of Ho Chi Minh City to Long Thanh airport to about 30 minutes.
In the immediate future, focus on handling "bottlenecks
Long Thanh Airport phase 1 has an area of 1,810 hectares, started in 2021, with a capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year. The project has opened to welcome some of the first flights at the end of 2025 and is expected to be commercially operated from mid-2026.
Currently, the distance from the center of Ho Chi Minh City to Long Thanh airport is about 50 km. If traffic is smooth, cars take about 1 hour and 15 minutes, but when congested, it can be longer.
From Tan Son Nhat airport to Long Thanh, the distance is about 58 km, because it is necessary to travel through the inner city, the travel time by car is nearly 2 hours and may be longer when there is a traffic jam.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, the city is accelerating the completion of high-speed roads and large-volume public transport to shorten the time to Long Thanh airport.
In the immediate future, the city will focus on handling key "bottleneck points". Ring Road 3 of Ho Chi Minh City is expected to open the entire route on June 30, 2026, forming an outer ring road, separating inter-regional traffic from the inner city area.
The Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressway is expected to open to traffic on the entire route in 2026, opening an additional airport access route from the West - South, reducing pressure on the eastern traffic corridor.
An Phu intersection along with the access road and Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh expressway are being expanded, expected to be completed in 2026, in order to eliminate the biggest "bottleneck" on the journey to the airport.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, by 2026, the Southeast region will complete about 394/598 km of ring roads and expressways. By 2028, the inter-regional transport infrastructure framework according to the basic plan will be completed.
Metro - a decisive solution
In the long term, Ho Chi Minh City identifies metro as a fundamental solution to the goal of shortening travel time to Long Thanh airport.
The city has planned three urban railway corridors directly connected to this airport.
The first corridor is Metro No. 2. In which, the Ben Thanh - Tham Luong section, nearly 11.3 km long, started construction on January 15, 2026, with a total investment of more than 55,000 billion VND.
The project is implemented according to the special mechanisms in Resolution 188 of the National Assembly, by the EPC consortium, with Truong Hai Group (Thaco) as the main general contractor. The line is expected to be completed in 2030.
Ben Thanh - Tham Luong Metro is part of Metro Line No. 2, more than 62 km long, including the Ben Thanh - Thu Thiem, Ben Thanh - Tham Luong sections and extending to the Northwest Cu Chi Urban Area.
The Ben Thanh - Thu Thiem section is nearly 6 km long, entirely underground, with a total investment of about 33,000 billion VND. The project has been assigned by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to Thaco to prepare a feasibility study report in the form of BT, expected to be grounded after the Lunar New Year and completed in 2030.
In parallel, Thaco is researching investment in the Thu Thiem - Long Thanh urban railway line, 42 km long, with a preliminary total capital of nearly 84,8 billion VND. The line is expected to start construction on June 30, 2026 and be completed in 2030.
When these routes are completed, Ho Chi Minh City will form a modern transport corridor, directly connecting Tan Son Nhat airport - Ho Chi Minh City center - Long Thanh airport.
The second corridor is Metro Line 6, which is prioritized for investment in the Tan Son Nhat - Phu Huu section. This line directly connects three terminals T1, T2, T3 of Tan Son Nhat airport; and also connects Metro Line 2 at Ba Queo station and Thu Thiem - Long Thanh line at Phu Huu station. The project also sets a target to start construction in 2026 and complete in 2030.
The third corridor is Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien), which will be extended by about 41.4 km to connect Long Thanh airport, with a total investment of more than 60,000 billion VND.
Ho Chi Minh City has agreed to assign Dong Nai province as the competent authority to implement the project, expected to be completed before 2030.
