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Blueprint for Hanoi’s international gateway calls for expansion of its capacity to 50 million passengers a year by 2030
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The upgrade of the airport will be undertaken in 2024-2025
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Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh, visiting the airport on September 21, said passenger traffic should reach 50 million by 2030, thus the need for a major upgrade
Vietnam’s Noi Bai International Airport, the largest airport in the country’s north, will undergo a major upgrade starting in 2024 to expand the gateway hub’s capacity to 50 million passengers by 2030, Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh said on September 21, Hanoi Times reported.
NBIA serves the capital city of Hanoi and is located 45 kilometers from the city center. Ultimately, the expanded airport should be able to handle 100 million passengers by 2050, the country’s civil aviation official said separately.
The airport’s Terminal 2, which caters to international flights, opened at the end of 2014, offering 96 check-in counters, 10 self-service kiosks, 17 boarding gates and 283 flight information display systems. Domestic flights now operate from Terminal 1.
Thanh, who visited the airport on September 21, said passenger traffic at Noi Ba is expected to reach 50 million by 2030, necessitating a major upgrade to avoid the risk of overloading.
“Major investments are needed to make Noi Bai Airport worthy of being an infrastructure of the capital and the country,” Hanoi Times quoted Thanh as saying during his visit to review plans for the airport for 2021-2030, with a vision for 2050.
Airports in neighboring Southeast Asian countries like the Philippines and Singapore have been upgrading or building new international airports in anticipation of the return of foreign travellers with the opening of borders following the COVID-19 pandemic.
Several Vietnamese and international airlines operate from Noi Bai Airport, including Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines, AirAsia, Cathay Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines, Thai Airways, Lao Airlines and Tiger Airways.
The airport terminal provides various services, shopping, dining, currency exchange, ATMs and transportation options.
Thanh said that each process of the expansion should strictly follow regulations and the government’s instructions.
He urged Hanoi’s authorities to work closely with government agencies in identifying the locations for the expansion, finalizing the detailed planning and submitting an investment proposal to the government soon.
He said construction of the runway and passenger terminal should start in the 2024-2025.
During the visit, Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) Dinh Viet Thang stressed Noi Bai and the upcoming Long Thanh International Airport would be the country’s two largest air transport hubs.
Thang said Noi Bai currently has two passenger terminals with a capacity of 25 million passengers per year each; and a cargo terminal of 400,000 tons per year.
The number of passenger transportation during 2010-2019 expanded by an average of 13%, and 14.5% for cargo transportation.
In 2019, the airport handled 29 million passengers and 695,000 tons of goods.
French consultant ADPi has completed the construction plan for the airport, which is subject to recommendations from government agencies, Thang said.
“The goal is to expand the airport to a capacity of 100 million passengers by 2050,” he added.
Under ADPi’s proposal, by 2030, Noi Ba would have three runways and three passenger terminals. Terminal 2 would be expanded so that, together with T1, they would to serve 30-40 million passengers a year. Terminal 3 will be erected south of the Airport with a capacity of 30 million passengers.
