Last year the country's airports handled 103.5 million passengers while their normal capacity is about 96 million passengers.
Chronic traffic congestion became a usual thing at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC – both inside the airport terminals and outside. Plans to build the third terminal for Saigon airport are on pipe – the new terminal will rise the overall capacity of the airport by some 20 million passengers but the contractor has not been chosen yet. In the meantime travellers are advised to add an additional hour and arrive to the airport earlier to ensure they catch their flight. While there is an interest from the part of both domestic and international airlines for flights from/to Tan Son Nhat International Airport, there are no more slots available.
Two other heavily congested airports in Vietnam are Cam Ranh airport in central Khanh Hoa Province hat serves the resort city of Nha Trang and Da Nang airport. Last year, the 10 million passengers capacity of Da Nang airport was exceeded by 32 percent while Cam Ranh handled 8.2 million passengers – 26 percent more than designed.
The situation in other airports is slightly better but many have already reached or are about to reach their designed capacity, too. This refers to Tho Xuan airport in the northern province of Thanh Hoa; Cat Bi airport serving Hai Phong City and being the most convenient gateway to Halong Bay; Vinh airport; Phu Cat airport in the Southern Central Coast province of Binh Dinh; and Tuy Hoa airport in Quy Nhon City, also on the Southern Central Coast.
Airports in Vietnam Report Rising Passenger Flow, Congestion
News in Asia
Airports in Vietnam are functioning at the edge of their capacity with the ever growing number of passengers expected to surpass the 112 million mark by the end of this year.