Central hub airport looks to new growth decade

A plane from Malaysia Airlines is welcomed at Đà Nẵng International Airport. The airport has been preparing for new growth in the decades ahead. Photo courtesy of ACV Đà Nẵng

ĐÀ NẴNG — Đà Nẵng International Airport hosted 13.4 million passengers, of which 6.2 million were international arrivals, and landed 32,400 tonnes of cargo, earning total revenue of VNĐ1.6 trillion (US$64 million) in 2024.

Director of the Airports Corporation of Việt Nam, Đà Nẵng branch (ACV-Đà Nẵng), Phan Kiều Hưng gave the figures and added that the airport has been designed for handling 14 million passengers with a series of infrastructure upgrading and expansion projects in 2026-28.

He said 81,000 flights had arrived safely in 2024, of those 46 per cent were international arrivals, while 43 per cent of total cargo flights came from over seas.   

The director added the construction of a new cargo terminal with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year would begin in the third quarter of 2025, leading to increased capacity over the next decades.

The airport will also be improving the quality of services at the current Terminal 1, reaching four-star standard in 2025, while the new cargo terminal will be the first fully automatic operation in central Việt Nam.

Visitors on an international flight are received warmly reception by the authority of Đà Nẵng International Airport and the city's tourism department. Photo courtesy of Đà Nẵng City's Tourism Promotion Centre

According to the airport authority, 40 per cent of international flights in the first quarter of 2025 will be coming from Korea.

Đà Nẵng City’s tourism department, in co-operation with the Đà Nẵng International terminal investment and operation joint-stock company (AHT) and ACV Đà Nẵng, have been pushing Đà Nẵng as a ‘safe’, attraction and hospitality destination in 2021-25.

The airport was listed among the 100 best airports in the world in 2024 by the UK–based aviation consultancy Skytrax, while it was ranked among the top-five airports in terms of capacity, by Routes Asia 2024, able to manage up to 20 million passengers per year.

Đà Nẵng has 24 direct air routes, of which 16 are international, hosting an average of 90 to 140 flights per day.

Air Premia, a Seoul-based airline, plans to start operating a new route connecting Incheon, Korea and Đà Nẵng with four flights per week from the first quarter of 2025.