Three military airports may include civilian operations: Deputy PM

The government is considering turning three military airports in Ninh Thuan, Dong Nai and Hanoi into military-civil airports.

The three airports are Thanh Son in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan, Bien Hoa in the southern province of Dong Nai, and Gia Lam on the outskirts of Hanoi.

Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh has asked the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of National Defense, and authorities of the three localities to consider adding civil functions to the military airports towards including them into the national master plan, and report their findings to the Prime Minister in October.

The airports in Ninh Thuan and Dong Nai were built before 1975. The two provinces have no civilian airports at present. Dong Nai, meanwhile, is home to the new Long Thanh International Airport, the first phase of which is scheduled for completion in 2025.

The Gia Lam airport in Hanoi was built by the French colonists in 1935. Hanoi is home to one of two biggest civilian airports in the country, the Noi Bai International Airport.

Deputy PM Thanh also assigned the transport ministry to evalulate the northwestern province of Lai Chau's proposal on a new airport and study the possibility of implementing the Con Dao airport upgrading and expansion project in Ba Ria-Vung Tau province in the form of public-private-partnership (PPP).

He also asked relevant authorities to grant more autonomy to the local governments in preparing and calling for investments in airports to be built under the PPP format so as to remove obstacles and speed up the projects.

For airport investments already approved, particularly in Sa Pa in Lao Cai province, Quang Tri in the eponymous province and Phan Thiet in Binh Thuan province, Thanh asked local authorities to work towards starting construction in 2022 or early 2023.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam's (CAAV) director Dinh Viet Thang had said the agency insists on a network of 28 airports in 2021-2030, featuring 22 operating ones and six to-be-built.

The airports would serve 283 million passengers a year, while 95% of the population could reach an airport within 100 kilometers. Until 2050, Vietnam is set to have 14 international airports and 17 domestic ones, or 31 in total.