HCM CITY — The Ministry of Transport has approved a detailed plan to expand HCM City’s Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport to both the north and south by 2020 to serve 50 million passengers per year.

Under the new plan, the airport will cover a total area of 791ha, an increase of 250ha compared to the existing airport area of 545ha. 

The additional land includes 37ha of national defence land, 35ha of land in the southern area, and 171ha of land in the northern area.

Under the plan, passenger terminals T1 and T2 will be expanded to increase the capacity to serve about 30 million people per year. 

In addition, a new T3 passenger terminal in the southern area of the airport will be built to accommodate 20 million passengers per year. 

By 2025, the airport is expected to have a capacity of up to 50 million passengers per year.

An additional eight taxiways will be built to expedite aircraft take-offs and landings.

At least 56 aprons will be added in front of the new passenger terminal T3 and in the southwest area of the airport, increasing the total number of aprons to 106.

As for roads connecting to the airport, Hoàng Hoa Thám and Thân Nhân Trung streets in Tân Bình District will be expanded to four lanes, while road 18E will be expanded to four to six lanes. 

Construction of an elevated road section from Hoàng Văn Thụ Park in Tân Bình District, passing along Trần Quốc Hoàn and Thăng Long streets to Chảo Lửa football stadium, is under consideration.

In addition, construction of an elevated road section from the end of the T2 international passenger terminal to the T1 domestic passenger terminal, passing along Thăng Long to Phan Thúc Duyện streets, is also under consideration.

To ensure the progress of the expansion plan, priority is given to the construction of the new international terminal T3, aprons and auxiliary works in the southern area of the airport.

In the northern area of the airport, priority is given to the construction of a reservoir with an advanced pumping station to prevent flooding.

In addition, roads connecting to the airport are being given priority and will be built as soon as possible. They must be in line with the city’s transport planning.

The Ministry of Transport has asked the Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam to work with agencies and localities to implement the plan. 

The ministry said it would announce the detailed planning of the airport within this month.

Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport, the country’s busiest airport, has become seriously overloaded both on the ground and in the air, forcing many flights to wait in the air to land. 

The airport has a design capacity of 25 million passengers, but the passenger throughput in 2016 was 32 million and in 2017 over 36 million.

The ministry hired the French ADP-I Consulting Company to propose an expansion plan of the airport, which was approved by PM Nguyễn Xuân Phúc in March.

Việt Nam is also planning to build Long Thành International Airport in the neighbouring province of Đồng Nai to handle 60-70 million passengers per year. It is expected to reduce overcrowding at Tân Sơn Nhất airport.

However, the airport will not be completed until 2025 or possibly even later, which experts have attributed to a lack of capital and slow compensation progress. 

Tân Sơn Nhất would remain the main airport hub even after Long Thành International Airport in Đồng Nai Province is put into operation. — VNS