The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) has suggested building a new terminal exclusively serving international flights at Da Nang International Airport, the largest of its kind in the central region.

The airport, located in the namesake city in central Vietnam, currently has only one terminal for both domestic and international flights, and it is essential to separate these two services, the ACV said in a report submitted to the Ministry of Transport.

The ACV was tasked with preparing the proposal to construct the new terminal by the ministry in a meeting early last month.

The company thus proposed setting up a new international terminal at a total cost of VND3.2 trillion (US$146.99 million), according to the report.

The project will be developed by a joint venture between the ACV and three other Vietnamese investors, including the Thang Long Air Service Corporation (Taseco), AOV Investment, and the Hanoi Construction Corporation (Hancorp). The ACV will hold 10 percent of the venture.

The ACV suggested locating the new terminal next to the current facility. The international terminal will span 40,000 square meters and be capable of serving 2.3 million passengers a year in its initial phase, and later, four million.

The corporation said construction should start in January 2016 and finish in June the following year, so that the new facility can serve the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which will be held in Da Nang in October and November 2017.

Da Nang International Airport was officially commissioned in late 2011, with a total capacity of six million passengers a year.

The airport is expected to reach its threshold next year, and the number of passengers traveling through the facility could be as many as 16 million in 2030, according to ACV general director Le Manh Hung.

The clock is thus ticking for the new terminal to be built to ease pressure on the airport, deputy director To Ngoc Hai said.

“The expansion project must be implemented as quickly as possible, and the funding must be ensured,” he said.

Last year the Da Nang airport served five million passengers, a 16 percent increase from a year earlier, according to The Saigon Times Online. Around 900,000 foreign tourists visited Vietnam via the airport in 2014, up 53 percent from 2013.

Three domestic airlines and eight international carriers are offering services to and from the Da Nang airport, with a total of 100 flights on a daily basis.

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