HCMC – The provincial government of Binh Dinh has written to the Ministry of Transport proposing developing the Phu Cat airport into an international one.

The upgrade of the airport is necessary as it is overwhelmed, especially on national holidays such as Tet, Nguyen Tu Cong Hoang, vice chairman of Binh Dinh, told Phap Luat Online on November 6. The Phu Cat airport has a designed capacity of 2.5 million passengers a year, and is expected to serve some five million passengers annually after the expansion. The provincial government forecast that over 7.5 million tourists will travel to the province in 2025 and the number will soar to 12 million by 2030. As such, the airport should be expanded and upgraded to handle larger aircraft, better air transport services and boost the province’s tourism sector. The provincial government proposed expanding the apron from seven aircraft stands to 14, rebuilding the passenger terminal under the public-private partnership format, and developing one more runway using the State budget in the initial stage. If approved, the province will map out a detailed plan for the airport expansion project and start to mobilize capital, apart from working with the agencies under the Ministry of National Defense to prepare for work on the project.