A perspective drawing of Long Thành International Airport in Đồng Nai Province. — Photo bnews.vn

HCM CITY — Construction of a passenger terminal at Long Thành International Airport in Đồng Nai Province and the third terminal (T3) of Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in HCM City is set to begin on Saturday (August 26).

The information was revealed on Wednesday by Lại Xuân Thanh, the chairman of the board of the State-owned Airports Corporation of Việt Nam (ACV), the investor of the two projects.

Covering 150ha, Long Thành International Airport terminal project is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2026. The estimated investment capital for the project is VNĐ35 trillion (US$1.5 billion).

Various components of the airport, such as the runway, taxiway, apron, and connecting roads, will also start in August, according to ACV.

The Long Thành International Airport, which is expected to become the country's largest airport, is estimated to cost about VNĐ336.6 trillion ($16 billion).

Once fully completed by 2050, the airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo per year.

Located 40km east of HCM City, it is expected to ease overcrowding at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, now the country’s largest airport.

Its construction is divided into three phases.

In the first phase, a runway and one passenger terminal along with other supporting facilities will be built at a cost of VNĐ114.5 trillion ($5.5 billion) to serve 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo each year.

On August 26, work on the third passenger terminal project at Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in HCM City will also start, including passenger terminal, multi-story parking building with non-aviation services, and the front apron system.

The project, at a cost of nearly VNĐ11 trillion ($471 trillion), began construction in December last year, and is expected to be put into operation in the second quarter of 2025.

Once operational, the new terminal will be able to serve domestic flights and up to 20 million passengers annually.

The number of passengers going through Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport has surged in recent years to nearly double its designed capacity.

The airport was designed to handle 25 million passengers a year by 2020, but it has been receiving almost 40 million a year since 2017.

The airport now has two terminals. The first terminal can serve about 15 million passengers a year and and the second terminal 10 million. — VNS