Transport consultants and related agencies have agreed that Hanoi’s southern district of Ung Hoa is unfeasible to house the hypothetical second airport of the capital region with the aim of alleviating the congestion at Noi Bai International Airport - the second busiest airport in Vietnam after Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

A corner of Noi Bai International Airport. Ung Hoa District, where is about 40km far from the capital city's center, is expected to share the air transport network with Noi Bai Airport. Photo: Vietnam Airlines

In a document sent to the Hanoi People's Committee’s on the latter’s proposal to build the capital region’s secondary airport in Ung Hoa District, Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan suggested other locations including Thanh Mien District in the northern province of Hai Duong or Tien Lang District in the port city of Haiphong.

The Ministry of Transport (MoT) said it will study an additional airport after 2030, depending on the real socio-economic development situation, the recovery, and the development of the air transport network.

In another move, in March, Haiphong City People's Committee asked the MoT to consider choosing Tien Lang as the location for the second airport of Hanoi.

The basis for Haiphong's proposal is in line with Resolution No. 45 of the Politburo on construction and development of this city to 2030, with a vision to 2045, which set the target for Haiphong to become one of the most developed cities in Asia by 2045.

According to the adjustment of the capital region master plan to 2030 and a vision to 2050 approved by the Prime Minister in 2016, Ung Hoa District is one of four options for the location of the second airport, including Ly Nhan District (Ha Nam province, 60-65 kilometers from downtown Hanoi), Thanh Mien and Binh Giang Districts (Hai Duong Province, 45-50 kilometers from Hanoi City’s center), and Tien Lang District (Haiphong City, 120 kilometers from Hanoi).

Tran Ngoc Chinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Urban Planning and Development, in a recent workshop said that Tien Lang in Haiphong City should be the second airport of the capital region. If it is allowed it will also help reduce the overload at Cat Bi Airport.

The MoT suggested the Hanoi's leaders support the plan to expand the Noi Bai Airport so that it would be able to handle 100 million passengers per year until 2025. A large air transport hub will be worthy of the position and political role of the capital, said the ministry.

However, Hanoi’s authority recommended the ministry should raise its prediction of Noi Bai air passenger traffic to 130-150 million per year by 2050 to proactively prepare the land fund.