Upgrade allows HCMC airport to serve 40 flights per hour

Done at a cost of more than VND2 trillion (over $87 million), the upgrade was started in July 2020.

The work also included works to renovate five existing taxiways, build three new rapid exit taxiways, a drainage system, and set up taxiway lights as well as aviation signboards.

The work was completed last weekend, allowing 40 flights to land or take off every hour compared to the earlier 33 during day and 32 at night, Nguyen Minh Tuan, deputy director of the Southern Airports Authority, an arm of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam that manages airports in the southern region and the Central Highlands, said.

"Besides increasing the airport's capacity, the [upgrade] also helps ease the pressure on the terminals and provide passengers with better services."

The number of passengers through the airport increased by an average of 10 percent a year to around 29 million by 2019 though it was only designed to handle 25 million.