HCMC airport new terminal floor to be completed only by June end

Nguyen Duc Toan, director of the executive board managing this work at the Ho Chi Minh City airport, claimed Friday that it was due to the "rushed timeline" for opening the terminal.

The incomplete sections primarily involve laying ceramic tiles.

The laying work is expected to take a week before workers grind and polish the floor, he said.

Since the terminal is now open, construction is only carried out for around three hours each night when there are no flights to minimize inconvenience to passengers, he said.

A gap between paving stones that has not yet been sealed with silicone at Terminal 3 of Tan Son Nhat airport in HCMC. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Anh

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam, the state-owned enterprise that operates all 22 commercial airports across the country and the project manager, has repeatedly urged the contractor to expedite progress.

The flooring is the terminal's largest package, costing over VND9 trillion (US$355 million), and work on it began in August 2023.

A centimeter gap is now clearly visible between the tiles and around electrical cable boxes in the unfinished areas, and the floor has not been polished, which some passengers say detracts from the appeal of the terminal, which is otherwise modern and well equipped.

A worker seals an expansion joint with silicone at Terminal 3 of Tan Son Nhat Airport, HCMC, on May 22, 2025. Photo by VnExpress/Giang Anh

A rainstorm on May 7 caused water leakage in the departure waiting area due to improperly sealed glass roofing.

Terminal 3 opened on April 17, two months ahead of schedule, and is currently the largest domestic terminal in Vietnam with a capacity of 20 million passengers a year.

The VND11-trillion (US$432 million) terminal has increased Tan Son Nhat Airport's total capacity to 50 million.

It handles most of Vietnam Airlines' domestic flights, easing the earlier congestion at the older T1 terminal. No other airlines have moved to the new terminal yet.

The five-story terminal, built on a 112,500-square-meter site, has separate departure and arrival zones, 90 check-in counters, 20 self-service bag-drop counters, 42 check-in kiosks, and 27 boarding gates.