Vietjet to invest in airport

QUANG NAM Vietjet is seeking Ministry of Transport approval to invest USD896.8 million to upgrade Chu Lai airport in the central province of Quang Nam to transform it into a hub.

Saigon Times media said Vietjet was keen to upgrade the Chu Lai airport in three phases to meet the airline’s development strategy.

The first phase would lengthen the runway to 3,250 metres and widen it to 65 metres a task that would not be completed until 2020.

It would then build a passenger terminal with an annual capacity of 2 million passengers, a cargo terminal for two cargo transport firms and two hangars for aircraft maintenance and repair.

By 2025, the second stage would expand the passenger and cargo terminals to raise passenger capacity to 4 million annually and offer facilities for four cargo transport enterprises.

Beyond 2025, Vietjet intends to develop a second runway, 3,250 metres long and 65 metres wide, on land due of the Chu Lai airport property.

In this final stage, the airline would construct a second passenger terminal to raise passenger handling capacity to 4 million passengers.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Nhat has asked the airline to draw up an investment plan for the project and submit it to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam before reporting to the ministry in November, it added.

Vietjet believes Chu Lai can be a major airport in the country due to having enough unused land to expand. It is also located in the heart of the central region, between the nation’s two biggest economic centres, Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, where there are many large-scale projects.

The airport currently has only one runway while its passenger and cargo terminals are in the same place with total floor space of 3,360 square metres, the report said.

Chu Lai airport is near Tam Ky city, the largest city in Quang Nam province. The airport is located in the Chu Lai Open Economic Zone, Nui Thanh district.