Major upgrade proposed for airport in Lam Dong province

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has proposed that the Lien Khuong airport in Lam Dong province be upgraded to serve five million passengers by 2030.

Lien Khuong airport offers access to Da Lat, the popular hill resort town in Lam Dong.

The upgrade would also see the airport in the Central Highlands handle 20,000 tons of goods annually.

In a proposal made to the Ministry of Transport, the aviation authority (CAAV) said that the upgrade would enable the airport to have 21 aircraft parking spots and welcome more aircraft types including: the Airbus A320, A321 and A350; Boeing B747 and B787; and others of similar sizes.

In order to synchronize the upgrade with the planning of Lam Dong province and the national airport network for the 2021-2030 period, with vision until 2050, the CAAV suggested that Lien Khuong becomes an international airport and a civil-military one.

The upgrade proposal includes construction of a three-million-passenger capacity T2 terminal and a 23,300-square-meter cargo terminal. The project would see the total airport area expand to 340.84 hectares.

It also envisages that by 2050, the airport would be ready to serve seven million passengers and handle 30,000 tons of goods a year, with its total area expanding to 486.84 hectares.

In March, the Lam Dong People's Committee drafted a similar project for upgrading the Lien Khuong airport.

In a document submitted to the Prime Minister, the province sought to enlarge the airport to serve five million passengers a year, from the current figure of two million, with an investment of VND4,328 billion ($181.8 million) per public-private partnership (PPP) format in the 2023-2026 period.