Land reclamation to upgrade Con Dao airport.

Recently, the adjusted plan for the development of air transport until 2020, with a vision to 2030, was approved by the Prime Minister. According to this plan, Con Dao Airport has reached level 4C, therefore the runway at Con Dao Airport must be extended by an additional 120m.

Accordingly, Con Dao Airport serves as a dual-use civilian and military airport (Level II military airport) with a designed capacity of 2 million passengers per year. Con Dao Airport commenced operations in 2004 and was upgraded to 3C, making it capable of receiving ATR72 aircraft and equivalent.

Con Dao Airport has a runway 1,830m long and 30m wide, 3 aircraft parking areas, and a terminal building with an area of ​​3,792 m².²It was designed to serve 200 passengers simultaneously. By 2006, many facilities at Con Dao Airport had been upgraded to accommodate 300,000 passengers per year.

However, in recent years, the number of visitors to Con Dao has grown by an average of 25-30% per year, leading to high demand and frequent ticket shortages. Therefore, upgrading Con Dao airport is essential and has been proposed to promptly meet the growing needs. It is expected that the upgraded Con Dao airport will occupy an area of ​​over 140 hectares, with an investment cost of approximately 2,300 billion VND.

According to the plan, the runway at Con Dao Airport needs to be extended by 120 meters into the sea. Therefore, the Ministry of Transport has instructed the consulting firm and Vietnam Airlines to re-examine and recalculate the runway design to ensure compliance with ICAO requirements and operational feasibility. The consulting firm and Vietnam Airlines are currently finalizing the upgrade plan to submit to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam for review and submission to the Ministry of Transport for appraisal and approval.

Vietnam Airlines Corporation has planned to invest in renovating runways, expanding aircraft parking areas, building a terminal to accommodate 2 million passengers per year, and other synchronized transportation infrastructure projects during the 2020-2022 period.

My Tong