Binh Dinh targets upgrade for provincial airport

The central coastal province of Binh Dinh plans to upgrade its Phu Cat Airport into an international facility with an annual capacity of five million passengers in 2030 and 12 million in 2050.

The upgrade is part of the province’s draft plan for the decade, which includes a gross regional domestic product (GRDP) growth of 9.5-10% per year in 2021-2030.

Binh Dinh also aims to build a section of the future high-speed North-South Railway project with vision until 2050 and an urban railway line connecting Quy Nhon town with Cat Tien township and Phu Cat Airport.

Quy Nhon is Binh Dinh's political and economic hub and one of the country's top tourist attractions.

Another major part of the plan is improving urban, industrial and information infrastructure, especially in the economic hubs of Quy Nhon town, An Nhon township and Nhon Hoi Economic Zone.

With the aim of becoming a coastal economic hub in the country, Binh Dinh will focus on developing manufacturing, tourism, logistics, transportation and hi-tech agriculture while promoting urbanization sustainably.

Phu Cat is currently a civil-military airport with a capacity of serving 600 passengers per hour at peak. The airport’s T2 international terminal, which can serve 600,000 passengers a year, welcomed the first international flight on January 6, 2020, with Bamboo Airways carrying 144 passengers from Cheongju Airport, South Korea.

Binh Dinh earned modest tourism revenues of VND183.1 billion ($7.36 million) in the first 10 months of the year, up 872.5% year-on-year.