Traffic chaos chokes roads to Ho Chi Minh City airport ahead of Tet

Cars and motorbikes stretch nearly 2 km along Hoang Van Thu Street outside the airport.

Traffic volume has surged during the peak travel period for the Lunar New Year, which begins on Feb. 17. Vietnam officially gives a nine-day break from Feb. 14 to 22, but many people leave work earlier to go back to their hometowns.

Vehicles inch forward on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street toward Tan Son Nhat Airport, near the end of Truong Son Street. The gateway to Terminals T1 and T2 remained heavily congested.

Passenger numbers at the international Terminal T2 rose sharply as many overseas Vietnamese returned home for Tet.

Vehicles crawled along Truong Son Street from the airport toward the city center.

Residents transporting peach blossom trees for Tet navigated through the congested stretch.

Passenger traffic is concentrated at domestic terminals T1 and T3, with nearly 104,000 travelers, most heading north. At international terminal T2, passenger numbers have also surged to nearly 57,000.