First commercial flight to take off from Long Thanh airport in September 2026

The first commercial flight will depart from the Long Thanh International Airport in the southern province of Dong Nai on September 2, 2026, said chairman of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) Lai Xuan Thanh on Thursday.

On the construction site, contractors have mobilized more than 6,000 engineers and workers, along with thousands of machines, vehicles, and equipment, Thanh told a delegation from the National Assembly, the legislature of Vietnam, led by its Chairman Tran Thanh Man on Thursday.

The progress of such items as the passenger terminals, runways, aprons, and roads connecting Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 has gone beyond schedules, he added.

“ACV pledges to direct contractors to gather all resources to work day and night in order to meet the set targets,” Thanh said.

However, the ACV leader noted that many contractors have encountered a lot of difficulties like scarcity of materials and unfavorable weather conditions that interrupted the construction work.

To overcome these difficulties, the corporation has asked contractors to find sources of alternative materials to promptly meet the committed schedule.

National Assembly Chairman Man said that the Party and State are paying great attention to the construction of Long Thanh airport as it will have a strong impact on economic development in the southern key economic region and the whole country.

He expected that once operational, the airport will be a modern air transshipment hub in the region, creating 200,000 jobs.

"As the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City is overloaded, Long Thanh airport is expected to meet people's increasing travel demand," Man said, requesting relevant units to speed up progress and ensure the airport will go into operation as planned.

Long Thanh International Airport, about 40 kilometers east of Ho Chi Minh City, is a mega project with a total investment of VND336.63 trillion ($14.12 billion) divided into three phases.

The first phase, worth VND110 trillion, will consist of a runway, terminal and auxiliary facilities that can serve 25 million passengers per year. The terminal is the largest package in the first phase.

Construction of the VND35 trillion ($1.49 billion) terminal commenced on August 31, 2023 and is set to be completed in 39 months. It will cover 150 hectares, featuring one basement and three floors, and 40 aprons.

In the second phase, the project will construct an additional runway and terminal to reach a capacity of 50 million passengers a year. The remaining items will be completed in the third phase to give the airport a capacity of 100 million visitors a year.

Once completed, the airport will be the nation’s biggest, helping reduce overload at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.