In less than a year, the Van Don Economic Zone has continuously received large-scale capital inflows from the private sector.
In December 2025, Sun Group officially commenced construction of a high-end entertainment and resort complex with a casino worth over $2 billion. Recently, on June 16th, the group announced a historic partnership with three global giants: HAECO – one of the world's leading aircraft maintenance engineering corporations from Hong Kong (China), Japan Airlines, Japan's national airline, and Toyota Tsusho, a global trading group from Japan, to invest in a $360 million aircraft maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) complex.
Perspective view of Vietnam's largest MRO complex in Van Don.
This is a challenging choice, requiring significant resources, a long-term vision, and the exceptional implementation capabilities of the private sector. By bringing together two high-value-added sectors with the most stringent standards in one location, Sun Group is gradually creating an unprecedented development ecosystem, opening up groundbreaking opportunities for Van Don in particular and Quang Ninh in general.
Competitive advantage from the high-profit segment
Within the global aviation value chain, MRO (Maintenance, Operations, and Reception) consistently ranks among the most attractive profit-margin sectors and is a high-value-added after-sales segment. Data from market research firm Mordor Intelligence indicates that the global MRO market is projected to grow from $450.46 billion in 2026 to $501.51 billion in 2031, with Asia-Pacific being the fastest-growing region globally.
In Vietnam, this demand is projected to reach $7.4 billion by 2030. However, current domestic capacity only meets a very small fraction of this demand, causing a large portion of the maintenance costs for domestic airlines to flow overseas.
The complex will transform Van Don into a priority maintenance destination for international airlines.
The emergence of the $360 million MRO complex in Van Don is considered a sharp solution to the cost optimization problem. Compared to traditional, extremely expensive MRO centers in the region such as Hong Kong (China) or Singapore, operating an internationally standardized maintenance complex in Vietnam offers superior competitive advantages in terms of infrastructure costs and abundant technical human resources.
This complex competes not on low-cost services, but on its ability to provide high-end technical solutions with optimized operating costs. This advantage is expected to create a natural attraction, making Van Don a preferred destination for domestic, regional, and international airlines during their aircraft maintenance cycles.
Synchronizing the ecosystem - new vitality and opportunities from strategic pieces.
From a real estate and infrastructure development perspective, the 20-hectare MRO complex, combined with the over 244-hectare casino mega-project, acts as a driving force, revitalizing the entire self-contained infrastructure that Sun Group has created in Quang Ninh.
Van Don International Airport
Previously, a solid "air-water-land" infrastructure linkage model had been established here with Van Don International Airport, Ha Long International Cruise Port, and key expressways.
When Sun PhuQuoc Airways officially begins operations and these two mega-projects are completed, Sun Group's value chain will be truly optimized. The MRO complex will be the launching pad for Sun Group's airline to establish self-reliance, control risks, and completely reduce dependence on foreign facilities.
While the over $2 billion casino complex plays a role in attracting affluent customers, tycoons, and foreign currency inflows through entertainment services, resorts, condotels, and high-end commerce, the MRO complex acts as a magnet attracting investment from high-tech supporting industries.
A casino complex worth over $2 billion in Van Don.
Looking at the bigger picture, Van Don not only boasts an unprecedented ecosystem established by Sun Group, centered around a multi-billion dollar casino project or a high-tech MRO complex. A larger impetus is gradually emerging: the policy of developing Van Don into a special economic zone – a growth model expected to create a turning point for the entire Northeast region.
If the economic zone launchpad is successfully established, Van Don will move beyond its role as a tourist destination and become a multi-sector maritime economic zone, combining entertainment industry, casinos, high-end tourism and comprehensive services, logistics, and simultaneously serving as an international trade gateway and a truly internationally competitive innovation center.
According to experts, very few places in Vietnam simultaneously possess all three advantages: strategic location, integrated infrastructure, and capable investors to lead the game. Van Don is the only economic zone located within the Vietnam-China "Two Corridors - One Belt" economic cooperation area, the expanded inter-regional cooperation in the Gulf of Tonkin, a bridge connecting ASEAN and China, the Nanning-Singapore Economic Corridor, and within the Northern Key Economic Zone of Hanoi - Hai Phong - Quang Ninh.
This area possesses all three types of strategic transportation infrastructure: air transport with Van Don International Airport, sea transport with Ao Tien Port, and road transport with the Ha Long - Van Don - Mong Cai expressway.
Van Don - Mong Cai Expressway
The infrastructure landscape is also becoming the foundation for a new phase of development, where capital flows not only into tourism or resort real estate but also expand into supporting industries for aviation, logistics, international trade, and high-quality services.
If casinos create the allure of the luxury entertainment industry; MRO establishes the position of a high-tech aerospace engineering center; then the special economic zone mechanism is the institutional lever, expanding the growth space and creating long-term attractiveness for domestic and foreign capital flows.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cap-dong-co-ti-do-be-phong-but-pha-dac-khu-van-don-185260618145333961.htm
