Southern Vietnam’s Long Thanh Int’l Airport welcomes first official flight

The inaugural landing came at 8:20 am, when a wide-body Boeing 787 operated by Vietnam Airlines touched down as flight VN1 after departing Hanoi.

On board were Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Hoa Binh and nearly 100 passengers.

After the aircraft taxied to the new terminal, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) held a ceremony to inaugurate critical facilities and welcome the inaugural flight at the country’s largest airport, located in southern Dong Nai Province.

Following the Vietnam Airlines arrival, two narrow-body aircraft operated by Vietjet Air and Bamboo Airways flew from Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City to Long Thanh, carrying flight crews and technical personnel for continued testing.

All aircraft returned to their respective bases by midday.

Vietnam Airlines earlier conducted a successful technical test flight on December 15 using a Boeing 787, with only crew members and engineers on board.

The exercise assessed operational coordination, including communication links between Long Thanh and Tan Son Nhat airports.

The passenger terminal and surrounding transport infrastructure are now in their final stages of construction.

ACV says Long Thanh is on track to begin commercial service in the first half of 2026.

The airport is being developed as a smart green facility meeting international five-star standards, with advanced technologies built and operated by ACV.

Biometric identification will be used throughout the passenger journey, from check-in and self-service bag drop to exit immigration, allowing travelers to move through the airport without traditional ID documents.

Long Thanh will also feature an integrated intelligent system at its Airport Operations Control Center and one of the region’s most advanced automated baggage handling systems, which will connect directly to Vietnam’s national population database.

The project has a total estimated investment of more than VND336.63 trillion (nearly US$13 billion) and is being constructed in three phases.

Phase 1, which began in 2020 with funding of around VND109 trillion, about $4.14 billion, will allow the airport to handle 25 million passengers and 1.2 million metric tons of cargo a year.

Once all phases are complete, the airport is expected to accommodate up to 100 million passengers and five million metric tons of cargo annually, positioning Long Thanh as a regional aviation hub and easing the longstanding overload at Tan Son Nhat International Airport.