Moving international flights to Long Thanh airport: A notable proposal from the airline

(NLDO) - International flights to Southeast Asia should be kept at Tan Son Nhat airport because they are short-haul routes, mainly for business travelers and short-term tourists...

This is the proposal of an airline, when talking to a reporter of Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper, regarding the plan to transfer all international flights to Long Thanh airport - according to the proposal of Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV), recently.

According to the airline, although Long Thanh airport is set to be operational from 2026, there are still some major challenges in terms of synchronous traffic connection from Long Thanh airport to the center of Ho Chi Minh City and Tan Son Nhat airport which has not been completed. Urban planning and development of "airport city" currently do not meet the needs of passengers and the workforce working at the airport...

Avoid spending too much time going from Long Thanh airport to the center

In this context, the airline proposed a plan to coordinate the operations of airlines operating at Long Thanh and Tan Son Nhat airports: domestic airlines will operate at Long Thanh airport international flights outside Southeast Asia; other international and domestic flights according to the airlines' choice on the basis of ensuring connecting flights and aircraft turnaround.

At Tan Son Nhat airport, domestic airlines continue to operate international flights within Southeast Asia and domestic flights.

Foreign airlines will operate all flights at Long Thanh airport.

A corner of Long Thanh airport under construction. Photo: Lam Giang

"The reason for choosing to keep international flights in Southeast Asia at Tan Son Nhat is because these are short-haul routes, and most of the customers are business travelers and short-term tourists. It will be very inconvenient for customers if the travel time from Long Thanh airport to the city center takes up too much time. Southeast Asia has implemented the signing of open sky agreements, and the countries have close diplomatic , trade, and tourism relations. The frequency of Vietnamese airlines' flights to these countries accounts for a high proportion," the representative of this airline analyzed.

In the long term, depending on the passenger volume and reception capacity at each airport as well as the connection between Long Thanh airport and Ho Chi Minh City, it is possible to consider adjusting the division of exploitation between Long Thanh airport and Tan Son Nhat airport. This option will ensure the exploitation of Long Thanh airport in the right direction as an important transit center; effectively harmonize the efficiency of both airports, the interests of Vietnamese airlines and ensure competition for destinations for Vietnam and Ho Chi Minh City.

Solving the Long Thanh airport problem: Applying technology to reduce check-in and immigration time

From the perspective of passengers and businesses, Mr. Nguyen Ba Diep, co-founder of MoMo Financial Technology Group, said that if all international flights had to be transferred to Long Thanh airport when the transportation routes were not ready, the experience of international customers in Vietnam would be affected. Because passengers would have to go through immigration procedures, get their luggage, travel about 2-3 hours to Tan Son Nhat, and go through the procedures again...

"At first, there will be difficulties in operations and impacts on passengers, but if customers are clearly informed and see Vietnam's efforts through supporting customers to the best of its ability, I believe that their experience and feelings about Vietnam will change for the better," said Mr. Nguyen Ba Diep.

To solve this problem, it is necessary to deploy technology applications to make the immigration process simple and fast, taking only about 10-15 minutes, with separate streams for international and domestic visitors, without having to queue in long lines and taking 1-2 hours as it is now.

Next, there needs to be a priority transport route for tourists to move quickly inland: buses or coaches with priority signs on their own routes. Equally important, passengers need to be served delicious food at reasonable prices at the international airport.

"If flying from the US or Europe, it takes about 18-25 hours of flight time. After entering the country, you also need to eat and drink to regain your strength before continuing to the center of Ho Chi Minh City or other destinations. In fact, in Bali (Indonesia), after getting off the plane, visitors often have to travel 2-3 hours by road to reach the city center, or in Thailand, it normally takes 2 hours to travel from the airport to Bangkok," Mr. Diep added.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/chuyen-chuyen-bay-quoc-te-ve-san-bay-long-thanh-de-xuat-dang-chu-y-cua-hang-hang-khong-196250816155645644.htm