Mega-airport Long Thanh in southern Vietnam welcomes first passenger flights

The first passenger flights touched down at Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai province on Friday morning, marking the inaugural civil aviation operation at Vietnam’s largest airport.

Flight VN1, operated by national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, completed the two-hour Hanoi-Long Thanh route at 8:10 a.m., carrying Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh and nearly 100 other passengers.

About 20 minutes later, two Airbus aircraft from private carriers Vietjet and Bamboo Airways, departing from Tan Son Nhat in nearby Ho Chi Minh City, landed at 8:30 a.m. and 8:35 a.m., respectively, with only flight crews and technical staff on board.

State-controlled Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) said key components of the Long Thanh project, including runway 1, taxiways, aircraft aprons, and internal airport access roads, are complete and ready for synchronized operations.

Alongside operating the first passenger flight to Long Thanh, Vietnam Airlines also launched new routes from HCMC to Copenhagen and Hanoi to Cebu, and resumed flights at Vinh airport (Nghe An province) in the central region.

The carrier simultaneously introduced in-flight internet services and opened its lotus lounges and check-in lounges at Vinh and Cam Ranh airports.

Phase one of the Long Thanh project, with a total investment of nearly VND110 trillion ($4.18 billion), is being developed by state-controlled ACV and is scheduled for implementation from 2020 to 2026. The phase comprises four sub-projects.

The airport's passenger terminal is inspired by the lotus, Vietnam’s national flower, featuring curved architectural forms and equipped with what officials described as some of the world’s most advanced technologies.

Once phase one is completed, the terminal will have a capacity of 25 million passengers per year, with separate departure and arrival levels, a total floor area of 376,451 sqm, and design standards of a hub airport with 44 sqm per peak-hour passenger. It will also handle 1.2 million tons of cargo annually.

Phase 2, scheduled by 2035, will expand capacity to 50 million passengers and 1.5 million tons of cargo by adding a second runway and terminal. In the final phase, Long Thanh is expected to reach full operational capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo per year by 2050.

Once completed, the 5,000-hectare airport will help ease congestion at Tan Son Nhat, which currently operates beyond its 25-million-passenger capacity.