Airport plans for Lao Cai get go-ahead

February 29, 2016 | 10:29

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The Ministry of Transport has accepted Lao Cai Airport's detailed adjustment plan that allows the airport to receive large-size aircraft like the Airbus A320 and A321 by 2020.

The proposal, submitted early this month by the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam, locates the airport in Cam Con Commune in the northern mountainous Lao Cai Province's Bao Yen District.

The airport, covering more than 260ha, is designed to serve both civil and military flights. It will be constructed following the International Civil Aviation Organisation's 4C airport standards.

It is expected to serve about 560,000 passengers and 600 tonnes of goods each year by 2020, growing to 1.5 million passengers and 2,880 tonnes of goods annually by 2030.

When the airport opens in 2020, it will run flight routes from Lao Cai to Hai Phong City, Vinh, Da Nang and HCM City. International flight routes will connect Lao Cai with China's south-west region and north-east Asian countries.

The ministry originally planned to construct the airport after 2020, however, in a meeting organised in HCM City last November, a domestic group committed to invest nearly VND6 trillion (US$269 million) to build the airport. This development led the ministry to permit building the airport sooner than programmed.

VNS

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