Central airport could get upgrade with more international flights

By Hoang Tao   April 15, 2022 | 10:00 pm PT
Central airport could get upgrade with more international flights
The check-in area at Dong Hoi Airport in Quang Binh Province. Photo by VnExpress/Hoang Tao
Quang Binh Province, home to the world's largest cave Son Doong, can get its airport upgraded if it gets more regular international flights, the Government Office said Friday.

The instruction came following an airport development proposal by the Transport Ministry last December, which said an upgrade of Dong Hoi from domestic to international airport can boost Quang Binh’s socioeconomic development, the tourism industry in particular.

Dong Hoi Airport, opened in 2008, is designed to handle Airbus A320 and A321 and other smaller aircraft and a maximum of two flights at a time.

Its only international service now is to Thailand’s Chiang Mai.

It has been handling more than its designed capacity of 500,000 passengers per year.

Dong Hoi is around 160 km from Phu Bai International Airport and 200 km from Vinh International Airport.

The Ministry of Transport approved a plan in February to build a second terminal to increase the airport’s capacity to three million passengers. The work is expected to cost VND1.22 trillion ($53.27 million).

Vietnam now has 22 airports in operation, 10 of them international.

Quang Binh, home to more than 350 caves with around 40 open to tourism, hopes to receive two million visitors including 10,000 foreigners this year.

 
 
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