Long Thanh International Airport must be a new model of modern, sustainable and smart aviation infrastructure.

On the morning of November 13, in Dong Nai , General Secretary To Lam and the Central working delegation visited the construction site and worked on the implementation of the national key project to build Long Thanh International Airport, listening to reports and orientations for the development of this airport in the regional and international competitive environment.

Also attending were Comrade Nguyen Van Nen, Politburo member, Standing member of the 14th Party Congress Document Subcommittee; Tran Luu Quang, Secretary of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee; Tran Hong Ha, Party Central Committee member, Deputy Prime Minister; Vu Hong Thanh, Party Central Committee member, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly. Comrades of the Party Central Committee: Pham Gia Tuc, Chief of the Party Central Committee Office; Nguyen Thanh Nghi, Head of the Central Committee for Policy and Strategy; Tran Hong Minh, Minister of Construction ; Nguyen Van Thang, Minister of Finance; Nguyen Van Hung, Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism; General Nguyen Tan Cuong, Chief of the General Staff, Deputy Minister of National Defense; leaders of Party Central Committees, Party Central Committee Office; relevant ministries, branches and Dong Nai province.

At the meeting, delegates focused on discussing and clarifying national, regional and international competitiveness; the unique values and Vietnamese identity that Long Thanh International Airport is aiming for; the investment efficiency of the project; and difficulties and obstacles that need to be resolved.

General Secretary To Lam speaks at the meeting

Speaking at the meeting, General Secretary To Lam emphasized that the construction site of Long Thanh International Airport Project - Phase 1, a project symbolizing the aspiration for strong, sustainable development and deep integration of our country in the new period.

The General Secretary stated that today's meeting has special significance, not only to check progress, but also to recognize the strategic stature, investment efficiency and influence of the project on national development and the Southern key economic region.

Long Thanh International Airport is not simply an aviation infrastructure project. This is a national key project, with a total investment of over VND 336,000 billion, with a designed capacity of 100 million passengers/year and 5 million tons of cargo/year and is expected to bring Vietnam into the group of leading international aviation transit centers in the Asia-Pacific region when completed.

Long Thanh International Airport is planned to be modern, green, and smart - demonstrating Vietnam's vision of synchronous and modern infrastructure development in the new period, making an important contribution to the implementation of three strategic breakthroughs that the draft documents of the 14th National Party Congress continue to affirm: institutions, infrastructure, and human resources.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha speaks at the meeting

After listening to the report of the Ministry of Construction, the opinions of the delegates, and concluding the working session, the General Secretary highly appreciated the spirit of effort, responsibility, creativity, and urgency of the entire political system, investors, consultants, supervisors, and tens of thousands of cadres, engineers, and workers at the Long Thanh construction site. Up to now, the overall progress of the Phase 1 Project has achieved very positive results. The project has initially demonstrated the financial efficiency and autonomy of Vietnamese enterprises; advanced management technologies such as: Smart Airport Operations Center (Smart APOC), AMS Overall Management System, High-speed ICS Baggage Handling System, OneID, VNeID, etc., will bring Long Thanh towards the standard of "Green - Smart - 5-star International Airport".

Emphasizing that Long Thanh International Airport is not only an airport but also a strategic driving force for the country's socio-economic development, especially in the key economic region of the South. To effectively promote this role, the General Secretary requested all levels and sectors to clearly identify a number of major orientations and key tasks and solutions: Regarding national, regional and international competitiveness; Regarding investment efficiency and project management; Synchronous development of regional connectivity and aviation service ecosystem.

Regarding national, regional and international competitiveness, the General Secretary stated that Long Thanh International Airport must be built and operated with the spirit of surpassing, being different, being a pioneer, and being a new model of modern, sustainable and smart aviation infrastructure.

The General Secretary requested ministries, sectors and investors to coordinate in developing a set of criteria to assess the international competitiveness of Long Thanh airport, with special attention paid to three factors: Service quality and passenger experience; Productivity and operational efficiency; Connectivity and transit capacity in the regional aviation network. The goal is to make Long Thanh the most attractive aviation destination in Southeast Asia, comparable to and surpassing leading airports in the region.

Regarding investment efficiency and project management, the General Secretary requested the Ministries of Construction, Finance and ACV to continue to evaluate the overall efficiency of the project, not only in terms of finance but also in terms of socio-economic, environmental, defense and security efficiency. “Every penny invested in Long Thanh must bring greater spillover value to the region and the country - from GDP growth, employment, to technology and human resources. At the same time, continue to strictly control quality, safety, prevent corruption and waste, ensuring that Long Thanh is truly a transparent and effective “project of the century” - the General Secretary noted.

The General Secretary also requested early preparation for phase 2 (2026 - 2030), proactively proposing investment in additional runways and a second passenger terminal, taking advantage of existing machinery and resources, to quickly increase capacity to 50 million passengers/year and 1.5 million tons of cargo/year.

Regarding the content of synchronous development of regional connectivity and aviation service ecosystem, the General Secretary stated that Long Thanh International Airport can only truly be effective when the connection between traffic - services - urban - tourism - logistics is organized synchronously and modernly. The General Secretary requested ministries, branches and localities to focus on directing the implementation of ensuring multimodal infrastructure connection between Ho Chi Minh City - Dong Nai - Ba Ria - Vung Tau and Long Thanh: Speed up the progress of Bien Hoa - Vung Tau, Ben Luc - Long Thanh expressways, Ring Road 3 - 4 of Ho Chi Minh City; Early start of Thu Thiem - Long Thanh railway line, gradually connecting Ho Chi Minh City's inner-city metro directly with the airport; Planning an inter-regional passenger transfer and logistics center right at the airport area.

Comrade Nguyen Thanh Nghi, Head of the Central Policy and Strategy Committee, spoke at the meeting.

Building a modern and synchronous aviation service ecosystem, including: accommodation, hotels, conference centers, trade, healthcare, training, maintenance, technical logistics, logistics, duty-free zones and supporting financial services. Aiming to form "Long Thanh airport city - Aerotropolis", becoming a service, logistics and transit center in Southeast Asia.

To increase the international appeal of Long Thanh International Airport, the General Secretary proposed that the Government direct the Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and businesses to soon develop policies to attract international airlines to exploit. There must be a mechanism for fees, charges, ground services, maintenance, and cargo transit that are internationally competitive, while at the same time implementing a strategy to promote and promote the global market, so that Long Thanh becomes a priority destination for international airlines, a new gateway of Vietnam to the world. "The goal is: international passengers coming to Vietnam choose Long Thanh because of convenience and satisfaction; international airlines choose Long Thanh because of efficiency, service quality, and an attractive investment environment," the General Secretary emphasized.

When completed, Long Thanh International Airport will relieve pressure on Tan Son Nhat, promote regional connectivity, expand development space in the Southeast region and affirm Vietnam's geostrategic position on the aviation map of the Asia-Pacific region.

The General Secretary believes that, with the leadership of the Party, the resolute direction of the Government, the synchronous coordination of ministries, localities, enterprises and the dedication of tens of thousands of workers, Long Thanh International Airport Phase 1 will be completed on schedule, achieving international quality, absolute safety, becoming a symbol of modern, dynamic and sustainably developing Vietnam in the new period.

The Long Thanh International Airport (Level 4F) construction investment project has a capacity of 100 million passengers/year and 5.0 million tons of cargo/year; total investment is about 336,630 billion VND; land use area is 5,000 hectares.

The project was started on January 5, 2021, and will be implemented synchronously from March 2022 with a scale of 02 runways in the North and 01 passenger terminal along with synchronous auxiliary items with a capacity of 25 million passengers/year, 1.2 million tons of cargo/year on an area of 1,810 hectares. Up to now, many main items of the project have been completed (connecting roads, runway No. 1, phase 1 boundary fence, ...), completed the calibration test flight and flight method assessment from September 26 to October 29, 2025.

Long Thanh International Airport, when put into operation, will play a very important role in the socio-economic development of Ho Chi Minh City and the southern provinces through enhancing connectivity and trade, developing tourism, attracting investment, creating jobs, and increasing income.

According to the research results of the international consultant in the Phase 1 Feasibility Study Report, the economic efficiency indicators of the Project are all very high, specifically as follows: the economic rate of return (E-IRR) is 19.3%, the economic net present value (E-NPV) is 80,345 billion VND. These indicators show that the Project is highly effective economically.

According to the results of the study by the Air Transport Action Group, published in December 2024, for airports with a capacity of over 10 million passengers/year, every 1,000 passengers passing through the port will directly create 0.85 jobs. Based on this study, the international consultant expects: When put into operation, the Port will directly create about 14,000 jobs for businesses operating at the Port. When operating at its designed capacity of 25 million passengers/year, the Port is expected to directly create about 22,000 jobs for businesses operating at the Port, thereby contributing about 3.7 billion USD/year to the national GDP; at the same time, indirectly creating about 69,800 jobs for businesses that are suppliers of input products and services for businesses directly operating at the Port, thereby contributing about 4.5 billion USD/year to the national GDP. The consumption impact of employed employees (directly and indirectly) will continue to create about 57,000 more jobs, thereby contributing about 2.5 billion USD/year to the national GDP./.

Source: https://dangcongsan.org.vn/tin-hoat-dong/cang-hang-khong-quoc-te-long-thanh-phai-la-hinh-mau-moi-ve-ha-tang-hang-khong-hien-dai-ben-vung-va-thong-minh.html