Representatives from agencies and Lâm Đồng authority at the ceremony. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The Ministry of Transport and the People’s Committee of the Central Highlands province of Lâm Đồng on Sunday held a ceremony to announce Liên Khương airport as an international one, the first of its kind in the Central Highlands region.

Deputy Transport Minister Lê Anh Tuấn said that the airport’s runway, which is 3,250m long and 45m wide, can handle Code D planes like the Airbus A300, the Boeing B757 and equivalents.

The airport serves regular and irregular international and domestic trips, private aircraft, military aircraft and other licensed modes of air transport.

Direct flights to many countries will receive favourable conditions for transporting international tourists as well as goods, vegetables, flowers and agricultural products from the Central Highlands to other countries at the lowest costs and the shortest time.

Nguyễn Ngọc Phúc, Vice Chairman of the Lâm Đồng provincial People's Committee, emphasised that the Liên Khương International Airport will create favourable conditions for local socio-economic development in particular and the Central Highlands region in general, especially for the tourism sector as Đà Lạt is becoming an attractive destination for international tourists.

The airport is about 39km from the centre of Đà Lạt City. After many upgrades and expansions, the airport now welcomes over 2 million passengers on average each year.

Over the past several years, the transport ministry has allowed Liên Khương to operate many irregular international flights transporting tourists to the locality although it is a domestic airport.

According to the province’s planning, it will meet criteria of an 4E level airport with an area of 340. ha and a designated capacity of 5 million passengers per year. By 2050, it is expected to expand to 486,8ha and host 7 million passengers annually. — VNS