Inside the special flight that just landed at Long Thanh airport.

Technical flight VN-5001 landed safely at Long Thanh, becoming the first civilian flight to land, marking an important milestone after more than 4 years of implementation.

At exactly 4:05 PM on December 15th, Vietnam Airlines flight VN-5001 took off from Tan Son Nhat Airport and landed safely on the runway of Long Thanh Airport (Dong Nai), witnessed by thousands of officials, engineers, and workers who were working at the construction site.

This was a particularly significant and historic flight, marking the first civilian airliner to land at Long Thanh Airport – Vietnam's largest aviation infrastructure project to date.

The flight was piloted by Captain Tran Tuan Hung, using a wide-body Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft, registration number VN-A863. The aircraft took off from Tan Son Nhat and made a short flight to Long Thanh according to the approved technical flight plan.

Captain Tran Tuan Hung received congratulatory flowers from Deputy Minister of Construction Pham Minh Ha, acknowledging the success of this special flight.

Flight VN-5001 carried no passengers, only the flight crew and technical personnel, to conduct a final assessment of the overall operational conditions of Long Thanh Airport before the official flight scheduled for December 19th.

The aircraft chosen for this special flight is the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner – a modern, long-range, wide-body aircraft currently operated by Vietnam Airlines on long-haul international routes.

The aircraft has a passenger capacity of approximately 290, a range of over 14,000 km, and uses GEnx engines, which offer the advantage of fuel efficiency and reduced operating costs compared to previous generations of wide-body aircraft.

During this technical flight, the relevant units focused on inspecting and evaluating the entire flight service system at Long Thanh Airport, from navigation, information, communication, and aircraft coordination systems, to runway and apron lighting systems, and the coordination capabilities between air traffic control forces.

The safe landing of the flight is considered a crucial verification step, confirming that key components of Long Thanh Airport are ready to meet stringent aviation safety and security standards before officially being put into operation.

According to the plan, technical flights between Tan Son Nhat and Long Thanh airports will continue to be operated by Vietnam Airlines along standard routes including L637, L643, M768, W1 and N500 for both directions, serving the purpose of evaluating and refining operational procedures during the final phase of the project.

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/ben-trong-chuyen-bay-dac-biet-vua-ha-xuong-san-bay-long-thanh-ar993165.html