Work started on a passenger terminal at the Long Thanh International Airport project in southern Dong Nai Province and the T3 passenger terminal at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in neighboring Ho Chi Minh City on Thursday afternoon.

Besides the two passenger terminals, a package was kicked off to construct and install equipment on a runway measuring 4,000 meters in length and 75 meters in width, taxiways, and an aircraft apron of Long Thanh International Airport.

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), the investor of the two projects, joined forces with the People’s Committees of Ho Chi Minh City and Dong Nai Province to hold a ground-breaking ceremony for the three packages with the attendance of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and leaders of some ministries, agencies, and localities.

The three packages cost a total VND53 trillion (US$2.2 billion).

The projects to develop Long Thanh International Airport and expand Tan Son Nhat International Airport are key national projects which are important to the development of the local aviation sector, the southern key economic zone and the whole country.

According to the ACV, during the first phase of the Long Thanh International Airport project, a runway, a passenger terminal, and other supporting facilities will be developed to handle 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year.

The terminal will feature a lotus-inspired design and be equipped with an artificial waterfall and a garden.

It will be applied with the most modern technology in the aviation sector and materials of high durability and aesthetics.

The Vietur consortium led by Turkey’s IC Ictas had earlier won the package to construct the passenger terminal worth VND35 trillion ($1.5 billion), the largest package requiring the most complicated techniques and the longest execution time of the third component—essential facilities—of the Long Thanh International Airport project.

The consortium planned to complete the package within 39 months.

Long Thanh International Airport, once completed, will be the largest airport in the nation with an annual capacity of 100 million passengers and five million metric tons of cargo.

The project needs an estimated investment of some VND336.63 trillion ($14.1 billion).

The ACV had pledged to complete the project as planned and put it into operation by the last quarter of 2026.

Vehicles serving the construction of the passenger terminal at Long Thanh International Airport. Photo: Cong Trung / Tuoi Tre

Meanwhile, the project to build the T3 passenger terminal at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City will include a terminal, a high-rise parking facility with non-aviation services, and a viaduct system in front of the terminal.

It requires an estimated investment of nearly VND11 trillion ($458 million), with 70 percent sourced from the ACV’s equity and the remaining from commercial loans.

The terminal, including a basement and four floors, will have a total floor area of around 112,500 square meters. It is inspired by ao dai (Vietnamese traditional costume).

Once in place, the terminal will handle domestic flights with a capacity of 20 million passengers a year.

Work on the T3 terminal is expected to finish within 20 months so that the terminal can become operational in the second quarter of 2025.

Tan Son Nhat International Airport currently has two terminals, with the T1 terminal serving domestic flights and the T2 terminal handling international flights. T1 can serve 15 million passengers a year, while T2's annual capacity is 10 million.

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