The Hanoi Department of Planning and Architecture has recommended constructing a new airport in Ung Hoa district, 40 kilometers south of the city. A second airport is in line with Vietnam’s master plan for developing the national system of airports in the 2021 – 2030 period, with a vision toward 2050, which was approved by the Prime Minister in March 2020.
Ung Hoa district offers good transport links and has the potential to become a satellite town with an industrial zone and a logistics complex in the future. Moreover, the land set aside for constructing the new airport in this district is mainly farmland, which will not affect residential areas, making the site clearance process easier.
Besides Ung Hoa district, there are three other options for the location of the second airport, including Ly Nhan district (Ha Nam province, 60-65 kilometers from Hanoi), Thanh Mien and Binh Giang districts (Hai Duong province, 50 kilometers from Hanoi), and Tien Lang district (Hai Phong city, 120 kilometers from Hanoi).
According to the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), Noi Bai International Airport, the main airport serving Hanoi, has the designed capacity for 25 million passengers while its traffic has been growing by 10% a year, reaching 29 million passengers in 2019. According to a report by the International Air Transport Association published in 2019, Vietnam is among the world’s 10 fastest-growing aviation markets in percentage terms.
(Sources: Vietnam Insider; Vietnamnet; Reuters)
