Situated 40 kilometers east of Ho Chi Minh City, the Long Thanh airport is expected to take up the overflow from the largest existing airport in the country, the Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

Long Thanh International Airport is planned to be built in three phases over three decades.

Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat now receives 32 million passengers a year, far beyond its designed capacity of 25 million.

“With a growing number of visitors to the country, and the national carrier, Vietnam Airlines, growing its operations, the government has brought forward construction of a new airport to be known as Long Thanh International,” a CNN Travel report says.

The airport, with total investment capital estimated at VND336.63 trillion ($16.03 billion), will be built in three phases over three decades.

The first part is scheduled for completion in 2025, at the end of which the new airport will be able to handle 25 million passengers a year. The next two phases will run from 2030 to 2035 and from 2040 to 2050.

Once completed, Long Thanh, expected to cover 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres), would replace Tan Son Nhat as the largest airport in Vietnam. The new airport would have an annual capacity of 100 million passengers and five million tons of cargo.

Other exciting airports on CNN Travel’s list include the Istanbul New Airport in Turkey, the Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, Singapore’s Changi Airport, the La Guardia Airport in New York and Beijing’s Daxing International Airport.

VnExpress English