Phù Cát airport in Quy Nhơn City is scheduled to welcome the first international flight by the end of December this year. — VNA/VNS Photo Nguyên Linh

BÌNH ĐỊNH — Phù Cát airport in Quy Nhơn City, the central province of Bình Định, is scheduled to welcome the first international flight by the end of December this year.

The information was announced by the chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, Hồ Quốc Dũng, at a working session with agencies and domestic carriers on Thursday.

Representative of the Vietnam Airport Corporation said the old terminal of Phù Cát airport had been repaired and converted into an international terminal (T2), with an area of about 3,000sq.m, including two floors with a capacity of 600,000 passengers a year.

The repairs and preparations are almost complete.

Under the plan, T2 terminal will be put into trial operation on December 5 and will be fully operational on December 15. It will then welcome the first international flight to the airport.

Trần Văn Triển, director of Phù Cát airport, said there were four domestic carriers including Vietnam Airlines; VietJet Air; Jetstar Pacific Airlines and Bamboo Airways operating 30-40 flights per day to and from the city.

In the first ten months of 2019, the airport served nearly 1.36 million tourists. In 2018, it welcomed 1.12 million tourists.

At the meeting, Trương Phương Thành, deputy general director of Bamboo Airways, said the number of Korean, Japanese and Chinese tourists visiting Quy Nhơn City increased day by day.

Bamboo Airways has worked with these partners and agreed to open direct flights to Bình Định Province.

It is expected that by the end of December, Bamboo Airways will have the first international flight from Incheon (South Korea) to Phù Cát airport and vice versa.

A representative of Vietnam Airlines said the airline expects to open the first international flight to the airport in March 2020.

Chairman Dũng said the number of tourists coming to Bình Định has increased by 15-20 per cent in recent years.

In 2018, the province welcomed more than four million tourists. Of which, over 290,000 are international tourists.

In the first nine months this year, it welcomed over 4.12 million tourists (310,730 international tourists), an increase of nearly 20 per cent over the same period last year.

In 2020, the province is expected to attract 5.5 million tourists.

Opening international flights to Bình Định Province was an urgent requirement, contributing to attracting investment and promoting the development of tourism industry, the chairman said.

He also assigned agencies and carriers to complete the procedures and licences to open international flights to the airport.

Phù Cát airport has also signed a regulation on co-ordination with border police force, customs and health departments in operating and controlling international flights. — VNS