Plan to shift all int’l flights from Tan Son Nhat airport to Long Thanh airport seen as strategic move

The move is meant to address long-standing issues of congestion and to promote long-term development for the southern region.

Passengers in Ho Chi Minh City and the southeast region will begin to get accustomed to the shift from mid-2026, according to ACV.

Tan Son Nhat, Vietnam's busiest airport, has long operated beyond its designed capacity.

Serving both international and domestic flights in a limited space, the airport frequently experiences severe overcrowding, delays, and traffic congestion.

As such, these issues have increasingly affected service quality and the overall travel experience for passengers.

The relocation of international flights will help ease pressure on Tan Son Nhat, while transforming Long Thanh into a unified international aviation hub for Ho Chi Minh City and the southeast region.

The strategy follows a model already successfully implemented in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, and Seoul.

Situated about 40 kilometers from the heart of Ho Chi Minh City, Long Thanh International Airport is positioned to serve not only the city but also the southeastern economic region.

Major traffic infrastructure projects, currently underway or planned, are expected to significantly improve access to the new airport, including the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City–Long Thanh–Dau Giay Expressway, the Ring Road 3 project, metro lines, and high-speed rail systems.

Many residents have raised concerns about the longer distance from the city center to the Dong Nai-based airport compared to the 8–10 kilometers to Tan Son Nhat.

However, ACV argued that under current traffic conditions, it can take nearly an hour to reach Tan Son Nhat during peak times.

In contrast, a well-connected Long Thanh airport could be reached in just 40–45 minutes via the expressway under normal conditions.

Improvements to road infrastructure will ensure smoother traffic flow and reduce dependence on any single route.

By the time Long Thanh becomes operational, all major connecting expressways are expected to be completed, ensuring timely and efficient airport access, according to ACV.

Long Thanh International Airport will be basically completed by the end of 2025 and put into service in 2026.

The plan to shift all international flights to Long Thanh is one of two options recently put forward for feedback by ACV.

Accordingly, Tan Son Nhat International Airport will focus entirely on serving domestic flights, with an expected passenger volume of about 29.5 million per year. 

Meanwhile, all international flight operations will be relocated to Long Thanh, which is projected to handle around 19.1 million international passengers annually, along with nearly 1.5 million transit passengers.

Under the second option, operations will be divided between the two airports based on flight distance.

Tan Son Nhat will continue to handle domestic flights as well as a portion of short-haul international flights, with the international passenger volume estimated at around 3.8 million per year, primarily serving routes under 1,000 kilometers.

Meanwhile, Long Thanh will handle all long-haul international flights, along with a portion of domestic passengers for transit connections, with the international passenger volume at some 15.3 million per year.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam threw its weight behind the option of relocating all international flights from Tan Son Nhat to Long Thanh to ensure convenience in management and operations, as well as to optimize resource utilization.