The Vietnamese Ministry of Transport submitted a proposal to the prime minister to develop the second airport in Hanoi as a domestic one, but the Hanoi People’s Committee said that the Hanoi Capital Region needs one more international airport. 

While providing feedback on the national airport system development master plan for the 2021-30 period, with a vision toward 2050, the Hanoi People’s Committee proposed the ministry weigh adding the second international airport in the city to the master plan.

The proposal is aimed at raising the Hanoi Capital Region’s airport capacity to 130-150 million passengers a year by 2050 to serve the soaring air travel demand of the city and the capital city area, according to a dispatch recently sent to the prime minister and the ministry by Hanoi.

The Hanoi Capital Region includes Hanoi as a core city and nine other provinces around it.

The region is projected to have 21-23 million people by 2050, with a total land area of over 24,310 square kilometers, making it roughly equivalent to the Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area, the Hanoi People’s Committee said in the dispatch.

The Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area consists of Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Nai Province, Binh Duong Province, Tay Ninh Province, Binh Phuoc Province, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Long An Province, and Tien Giang Province.

The ministry factored in two international airports, including Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City and Long Thanh in Dong Nai Province, with a total capacity of 150 million passengers a year, for the Ho Chi Minh City Metropolitan Area, but it failed to do the same for the Hanoi Capital Region.

The capital region is in dire need of two international airports to meet the demands for air travel and create a boost for socio-economic growth, said the Hanoi People’s Committee.

The Hanoi People’s Committee proposed the prime minister and the Ministry of Transport re-determine the capital region’s second airport as an international one.

Hanoi-based Noi Bai International Airport will handle 60 million passengers a year by 2030 and 100 million passengers per year by 2050, with the respective areas of 1,500 hectares and 2,230 hectares, according to the dispatch.

Meanwhile, the projected second airport in the Hanoi Capital Region will be built in either southeast or south Hanoi.

The capacity and size of the second airport remain unknown.

Vietnam will be home to 33 airports by 2050, according to the national airport system development master plan for the 2021-30 period, with a vision toward 2050 submitted to the prime minister by the Ministry of Transport in early May.

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