HCM CITY — Deputy PM Trịnh Đình Dũng has urged relevant agencies to expand HCM City’s Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport by using a section of military land to raise its capacity to 40-50 million passengers a year by 2025.

Dũng, who recently visited the country’s busiest airport -- which has become severely overloaded in recent years -- instructed the Ministry of Defence to co-ordinate with relevant ministries and the city People’s Committee to plan for the use of 21 hectares of military land to the west of the airport for the expansion, including construction of new taxiways, aprons, a terminal, and a hangar.

The Ministry of Transport has been instructed to build a new terminal with a capacity of 10-20 million passengers a year and a new hangar.

City authorities have been told to tackle the worsening traffic congestion around the airport.

Dũng has instructed the ministries to look for potential investors and infrastructure companies to carry out the project under public-private partnership (PPP) mode.

He has instructed relevant agencies to regularly update him on the progress.

He has also ordered the Ministries of Planning and Investment and Finance to draw up financial plans for the project.

Tân Sơn Nhất is already operating well beyond its 25 million capacity, serving nearly 26.5 million passengers last year.

It is expected to handle 30 million passengers this year.

Overloaded

The airport faces a host of issues, including severe congestion at its entrance and an insufficient number of runways, taxiways, and aprons.

A lack of facilities to serve the increasing number of new aircraft and passengers is also plaguing the airport.

Many airlines are expanding their fleets so quickly that the infrastructure is unable to keep pace, according to the airport authorities.

Deputy Minister of Defence Trần Đơn said his ministry and the transport ministry are working on a plan to use the 21ha of land for the airport expansion.

The defence ministry has also given the green light to use another 7.63ha hectare of military land for the Airports Corporation of Việt Nam to build a new taxiway.

Lại Xuân Thanh, head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam, said Tân Sơn Nhất only has space for parking 51 aircraft while the need is for more than 80.

There are two runways, but only one can handle both take-offs and landings, meaning aircraft often have to wait to land or take off, he said.

While waiting for the first phase of the Long Thành International Airport to open in 2025, the expansion of Tân Sơn Nhất to increase its capacity to 50 million passengers is an urgent task, Dũng said. — VNS