Vietnam planning to build new 5-bln-USD airport in capital city

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) is discussing with relevant agencies to build a new airport in Hanoi with an investment of over 5 billion U.S. dollars.

The construction of the new airport aims to ease overloading of Noi Bai, the first and so far only international airport in the capital city, reported local VNEconomy online newspaper on Tuesday.

The new airport is set to be developed on an area of 720 hectares near Noi Bai airport, VNEconomy quoted Lai Xuan Thanh, CAAV head as saying.

Site clearance will cost about 2 billion U.S. dollars while construction will cost nearly 3.5 billion U.S. dollars, said the official.

"Building another airport is an emergency issue," Thanh said, adding that strong growth in the aviation sector has created huge pressure on airports.

The CAAV is collecting opinions from relevant agencies and Hanoi authorities about the construction of the new airport before submitting to the government.

The current Noi Bai international airport in Phu Minh commune in Hanoi's Soc Son district has a designed capacity of serving 25 million passengers per year.

A source from Noi Bai international airport told Xinhua over phone that in 2015, the airport welcomed over 17 million passengers, a growth of 22 percent year-on-year.

Meanwhile, in the first five months of 2016, the airport is estimated to serve around 7-8 million passengers, the source said.

Vietnam is also developing a massive international airport in the southern Dong Nai province, some 40 km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City. Endit