Deputy Prime Minister Lê Văn Thành (right) inspects the planning for Nội Bài International Airport in Hà Nội on Wednesday. — VNA/VNS Photo An Đăng

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Prime Minister Lê Văn Thành has asked ministries, sectors and relevant localities to coordinate closely to reach a consensus on the location and total expanded areas of the Nội Bài International Airport in the suburbs of Hà Nội.

Inspecting the implementation of a project on the airport in the 2021-30 period on Wednesday, Thành held that with the fast recovery and development of the aviation sector, it is quite possible for the airport to welcome 50 million passengers per year by 2030.

Therefore, it may be overloaded and face congestion in the future if it is not expanded quickly, he said.

The official underlined the need for the airport to become more modern on a larger scale, deserving its role in the capital city.

It is necessary to promptly complete and approve the airport’s planning, then quickly design investment policy for the project to report to authorised agencies, he stressed.

Ministries, sectors and localities were requested to fulfill their assigned tasks to ensure that the construction of new runways and terminals of the airport will commence within 2024-25.

According to the Ministry of Transport, currently, Nội Bài International Airport has two passenger terminals with a total capacity of 25 million passengers per year, and a cargo one that can handle 403,000 tonnes each year.

In the 2010-19 period, the average growth in the number of passengers was 13.4 per cent, while that of goods was 14.5 per cent. In 2019, the airport served over 29 million passengers and handled 695,325 tonnes of goods, it said.

The Director of the Civil Aviation Agency of Việt Nam (CAAV) said that French advisory agency ADPi has been working on the planning since June 2019.

Under the plan, by 2030, the airport is expected to have a third runway and three passenger terminals. The airport's existing terminal T2 will be expanded so that the combined capacity of Terminals T1 and T2 will reach 30-40 million passengers per year, and a new Terminal T3 with a capacity of 30 million passengers per year will be built to the south.

By 2050, the CAAV estimates the airport will serve 100 million passengers and handle five million tonnes of cargo each year.

Deputy Chairman of the Hà Nội's People’s Committee Nguyễn Trọng Đông said that the city basically agrees with the development planning of the airport, pledging that it is willing to engage in ground clearance activities for the project. — VNS