LESSON 1:
EARLY COMPLETION OF THE COUNTRY'S CENTURY PROJECT
According to the plan, Long Thanh Airport Phase 1 will be completed and put into operation by the end of 2026. However, according to the direction of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the inauguration of Phase 1 of the project must be held on December 19, 2025, completed early to increase investment efficiency, creating new momentum for national development. The Government and the Prime Minister have given strong direction to shorten the project completion time.
In particular, on November 13, 2025, during his inspection and working trip at the project site, General Secretary To Lam continued to request relevant units to speed up the investment progress of phase 2 of the project. Because this is the wish of investors, contractors, people, airlines as well as localities.
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| General Secretary To Lam inspected the Long Thanh Airport Project on November 13, 2025. Photo: Cong Nghia |
The Prime Minister inspected the project 8 times and "ordered" to shorten the progress.
On June 25, 2015, at the 9th Session of the 13th National Assembly, the National Assembly passed Resolution No. 94/2015/QH13 on the investment policy of Long Thanh Airport Project with the goal of constructing items to reach a capacity of 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo per year.
More than 5 years later, on November 11, 2020, the Prime Minister signed Decision No. 1777/QD-TTg approving the Long Thanh Airport Construction Investment Project Phase 1. Accordingly, in Phase 1, Long Thanh Airport will build a runway and a passenger terminal along with synchronous auxiliary items with a capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year.
At the end of March 2025, the Prime Minister approved the adjustment of the Long Thanh Airport Project Phase 1. This included approving the adjustment and addition of the construction of an additional runway in Phase 1 of the project.
As a national key project, since the project officially started construction in early 2021, the Long Thanh Airport Phase 1 Project has received special attention from the leaders of the Party, State, National Assembly and Government, demonstrated through a series of trips to inspect the actual progress and encourage the project's construction force. In particular, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh alone has had 8 trips to inspect the actual progress and work on the project's progress.
On September 24, 2024, during the fourth inspection and working trip with relevant units on the progress of the Long Thanh Airport Project Phase 1, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized: This is a symbolic project of this term and requested to launch a 450-day emulation campaign to basically complete Phase 1 of the project by December 31, 2025, earlier than the previous plan of 2026. During the next three inspection and working trips on the project's progress, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh continued to affirm that the basic goal of completing the project before December 31, 2025 is "not allowed to be delayed".
On August 2, 2025, during the 8th inspection and work on the project's progress, recognizing that many tasks had been deployed and basically completed after the previous inspection, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh set a target of basically completing the project on December 19, 2025, inaugurating it according to regulations, and moving towards commercial exploitation in early 2026.
According to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, completing the project early will improve investment efficiency as well as smooth and effective coordination between agencies, units and localities. This will contribute to creating jobs and livelihoods for people and promoting growth.
“The early completion of the project also proves that “nothing is impossible”, the issue is determination and knowing how to implement the work” - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized.
General Secretary To Lam requested relevant units to speed up the investment progress of phase 2 of the project. This is the desire of investors, contractors, people, airlines as well as localities. The authorities must proactively propose to invest in additional runways and a second passenger terminal to take advantage of existing machinery and equipment to soon increase the capacity of Long Thanh Airport to 50 million passengers and 1.5 million tons of cargo per year as soon as possible.
Take-off day is not far away
On September 26, 2025, Beech King Air 350ER aircraft with registration number B350 became the first aircraft to approach runway 1, Long Thanh Airport. This is an important milestone in achieving the goal of early completion of the project.
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| Beech King Air 350ER aircraft conducts calibration at Long Thanh Airport in September 2025. Photo: Pham Tung |
Mr. Nguyen Hoang Giang, Director of Air Traffic Management Engineering Company Limited (ATTECH), said: For all new airport construction projects, the first thing to do before granting a license to put into operation is to carry out flight calibration work. “For Long Thanh Airport, according to the progress requirements set by the Government, the flight inspection and evaluation work also requires the unit providing flight inspection and calibration services to arrange very flexibly to meet the progress. Therefore, since 2024, ATTECH has taken steps to prepare for the flight calibration work at Long Thanh Airport,” Mr. Nguyen Hoang Giang shared.
Mr. Le Huy Tien, Director of the Executive Board of the second runway package, said: The second runway of Long Thanh Airport is 4km long and 75m wide, and will start construction at the end of May 2025. According to the signed contract, the project will be completed by the end of May 2026. However, to implement the request to shorten the progress of the entire project in general and the second runway item in particular, in the past time, the contractor consortium has mobilized maximum human resources, material resources, equipment and machinery, "working day and night" to shorten the construction time. For this item, the contractor consortium strives to basically complete the cement concrete road foundation before December 19, 2025; ensuring synchronous completion with the passenger terminal project and putting it into operation in June 2026 according to the required schedule.
Regarding ACV - the investor of Component 3 Project, ACV Deputy General Director Nguyen Tien Viet said: The goal of Long Thanh Airport is to welcome the first technical flight landing on the runway on December 19, 2025. Therefore, the consortium of contractors for the project is focusing all resources, mobilizing about 14,000 workers and 3,000 pieces of equipment to work in "3 shifts, 4 crews" on the bid packages.
According to ACV, Long Thanh Airport has 15 packages, of which 3 have been completed and 12 are under construction. Of which, the passenger terminal, the most important part of the project, has basically completed the construction. For this project, the contractor is completing the roof at the wing area and the central area; steel structure of the telescopic bridge area; installing glass walls; stone tiling; construction of electrical systems, water supply and drainage, fire prevention and fighting.
Regarding equipment installed at the terminal such as: baggage handling system, security screening, escalators, stairwells, elevators are being accelerated in production, some equipment has been installed. This November, security screening machines (SSE), EDS CB3 CT scanners and automatic tray return equipment, Body Scan area for security check of international and domestic passengers' carry-on baggage will be transferred to the construction site, promptly installed before December 19, 2025.
The Long Thanh Airport project has a total investment of more than 16 billion USD, built on an area of 5,000 hectares, with a designed capacity of 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo per year. In particular, phase 1 of the project has a total investment of about 4.7 billion USD, a construction area of more than 1,800 hectares, a designed capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year.
"Redrawing" the world aviation map
As one of the 16 most anticipated airport projects in the world, and also the largest airport in the country when completed, Long Thanh Airport is targeted by Vietnam to become an international aviation hub in the region.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony for the construction of the passenger terminal, runway, and aircraft parking lot of Long Thanh Airport Phase 1 at the end of August 2023, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said: The Long Thanh Airport Phase 1 project and the T3 Passenger Terminal, Tan Son Nhat Airport are two particularly large projects, playing a particularly important role in the national airport network system, belonging to important projects related to national defense - security, socio-economic development of the Southern key economic region in particular and the whole country in general.
“Once completed, these two projects will contribute to making Vietnam a major transport hub in the region and the world. They will open up new development space with an aviation economic ecosystem, create new growth momentum, promote development and enhance national competitiveness,” Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh emphasized.
The Head of Government also said that aviation infrastructure is an important part of the transport infrastructure system which is highly specific, complex and deeply integrated internationally. Developing aviation transport infrastructure aims to strengthen and expand transport methods for sharing and interconnecting domestically and internationally. Thereby, promoting socio-economic development and performing the task of ensuring national defense and security, protecting territorial sovereignty. However, developing aviation infrastructure requires synchronous, modern and sustainable investment, in line with the development trend of world aviation, in which airports play a key role.
In fact, in recent years, the aviation infrastructure in our country has been upgraded, expanded, and newly built with many investment resources from the State and socialization. However, it has not kept up with the growth and development of the country and the world. Many airports have become "overloaded" both in the sky and on the ground. Therefore, the early completion of construction and putting into operation of Long Thanh Airport Phase 1 is one of the "solutions" to the problem of "overloaded" aviation infrastructure. From there, it opens up new development opportunities for the country.
Associate Professor Dr. Tran Dinh Thien, former Director of the Vietnam Economic Institute and member of the Government Advisory Group, commented: It is not by chance that Long Thanh Airport is oriented to become an international transit airport. The world has now entered the era of high technology and global connectivity, so the position of an international transit airport is also different from before. Long Thanh Airport itself must become a coordinate for Vietnam to compete internationally in the era of high technology and global connectivity. It helps Vietnam form a new development structure.
On November 13, 2025, during his inspection and working trip at the project site, General Secretary To Lam assessed: Long Thanh Airport is not only an airport but also a strategic driving force for the socio-economic development of the country, especially in the key economic region of the South. The goal is that Long Thanh Airport will become the most attractive aviation destination in Southeast Asia, comparable to and surpassing the leading airports in the region.
“When completed, Long Thanh Airport will relieve pressure on Tan Son Nhat Airport, promote regional connectivity in the development space of the Southeast region and affirm Vietnam's geostrategic position on the aviation map of the Asia-Pacific region,” General Secretary To Lam emphasized.
Pham Tung
Lesson 2: "Runway" helps Dong Nai develop
Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/kinh-te/202511/san-bay-long-thanh-minh-chung-cua-y-chi-khong-gi-la-khong-the-bai-1-8381aa8/
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