VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has 22 airports but only Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat International Airport are operating above their design capacity, reported the Airports Corporation of Vietnam.

Passengers at Tan Son Nhat International Airport, HCM City -- Photo: SGGP

Noi Bai was designed to transport six million passengers per year. The capacity will increase to nine million after the airport is broadened by the end of this year. However, it has served nearly 13 million passengers during peak season such as Tet holidays.

Tan Son Nhat design capacity is 20 million passengers per year. In the first ten months of this year, the numbers of passengers travel through the port approximated 22 million.

Meantime, Phu Quoc Airport has exploited one fifth of its capacity of 2.65 million passengers a year. It is only one tenth at Can Tho Airport, which was designed to transport 3-5 million passengers and 5,000 ton cargo a year.

Da Nang Airport sees four million passengers annually, a shortage of 1.2 million to fulfill the design capacity. Lien Khuong Airport in Da Lat City has used one third of its capacity of 1.5 million passengers per year.

The condition is even gloomier at several remaining airports in the country.

According to the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam’s airway transportation grows an average of 20 percent per year.

SGGP/VNN