Saigon’s newly-upgraded runway ready set for completion by year end

The renovation of a runway at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City is nearing completion so it will likely be put into operation by the end of the year, according to the project’s management unit.

Carrying a price tag of VND2,015 billion (US$87 million), the project includes the upgrade of the 25R/07L runway and the construction of three new taxiways.

After a five-month first phase of the project that involved upgrading a 3,048-meter-long, 45.72-meter-wide runway, contractors announced that they are ready to begin phase two on December 15, during which calibration flights will be held for a five-day period in order to evaluate the newly-upgraded runaway and its components for flight departure and arrival.

Following the completion of the calibration flights on December 20, the Cuu Long Corporation for Investment, Development and Project Management of Infrastructure (CIPM Cuu Long) will hand over the runway to the Tan Son Nhat International Airport administrators who will put it into operation on December 31.

Tran Binh An, a representative of CIPM Cuu Long, affirmed that the upgrade will increase Tan Son Nhat International Airport’s capacity to 50 million passengers per year, a goal set out by the transport ministry.

The upgrade project was approved after regulators identified the increased degradation of the airport’s two runways since 2017 when Tan Son Nhat started receiving larger aircraft such as the A350-900, B787-9, and B787-10.

Adding to the runways’ increased load were the 41.2 million passengers the airport served in 2019, equal to 260,862 landings and take-offs – a number thwarting Tan Son Nhat's capacity of 36-38 million passengers a year.

The second phase of the project will focus on the construction of three new taxiways over a 12-month period.

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