The Ministry of Construction requested the Civil Aviation Authority and ACV to work with airlines to study and determine the route for transferring international routes from Tan Son Nhat airport to Long Thanh.
According to the Ministry of Construction, in the feasibility study report for the Long Thanh International Airport construction investment project phase 1, there is a plan to exploit Long Thanh International Airport and Tan Son Nhat International Airport.
In particular, for international flights, Long Thanh International Airport will operate all international flights ( longer flights than 1,000 km and flights chosen by airlines), new flights of all airlines that Tan Son Nhat International Airport cannot receive, and flights not scheduled.
Tan Son Nhat International Airport will operate all airlines operating code C aircraft (A321/320, B737...) or flights under 1,000 km long, the exploitation criteria will be reviewed after the first 5 years of operation.
Currently, Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV) and the consulting unit have proposed a plan to transfer all regular international flights from Tan Son Nhat International Airport to operate at Long Thanh International Airport to ensure the project's investment efficiency.
However, according to the Ministry of Construction, the above option still has opinions from some airlines, so the Ministry of Construction requested the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to preside over and work with ACV to urgently work with airlines to thoroughly study and evaluate the impact of the exploitation plan.
From there, determine the route to transfer the international route from Tan Son Nhat International Airport to Long Thanh International Airport to soon report the official results of the exploitation plan in September 2025.
Previously, Lao Dong Newspaper reported that Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV) proposed two options for parallel operation of Long Thanh and Tan Son Nhat airports from 2026.
Long Thanh airport in Dong Nai is the largest airport project in the country, implementing phase 1 with a capacity to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year.
Thanks to its location far from residential areas, the airport can operate 24/24 hours - an advantage over Tan Son Nhat, which has been overloaded for many years and has limited night flight hours.
In the process of preparing for the operation time, the Incheon Airport Joint Venture (Korea) - the consulting unit for Long Thanh airport management and operation has proposed two options for dividing exploitation.
Option 1: Long Thanh will undertake all international flights.
According to this plan, Long Thanh airport will receive 100% of international flights, while Tan Son Nhat airport specializes in serving domestic flights.
It is expected that Tan Son Nhat airport will serve about 29.5 million domestic passengers per year, while Long Thanh airport will welcome 19.1 million international passengers and a small number of domestic passengers for shuttle.
This division forms a model of a single-hub international transit center for the Southern region.
Concentrating all international routes at Long Thanh airport helps: Optimizing human resources, equipment and operating procedures; reducing management costs by not having to maintain international infrastructure at both airports; bringing a more convenient experience to international passengers, avoiding having to travel between two airports when connecting flights.
The release of all international capacity from Tan Son Nhat will also help this airport reduce overload pressure, while Long Thanh airport has development conditions to compete with major airports in the region.
The only disadvantage of this option is that passengers in Ho Chi Minh City traveling on short international routes may find it inconvenient to travel further to Long Thanh.
Option 2: Keep a part of the short international flight in Tan Son Nhat.
With this option, Tan Son Nhat airport still operates domestic flights and part of short-haul international flights (under 1,000 km), accounting for about 20% of total international traffic.
Long Thanh airport will focus on long-haul international flights (80% of international traffic) and some domestic flights serving transit.
The advantage is that it takes advantage of the existing facilities of Tan Son Nhat airport, reduces the operational pressure for Long Thanh airport in the initial stage, and is more convenient for Ho Chi Minh City tourists to fly short flights in the area.
However, experts and airlines do not point out that this option increases operating costs due to maintaining customs forces, quarantine, security... at both airports.
More importantly, the disruption of international routes will reduce the competitiveness of Long Thanh airport as a transit center.
According to ACV's analysis, Long Thanh airport could lose up to 8.8% of international passenger volume because transit passengers will choose other airports in the region to avoid traveling between the two airports - a lesson that happened in Narita (Japan) and Heathrow (UK).
