Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has approved a project to expand Dien Bien Airport in the northwestern province of Dien Bien with the aim of increasing its capacity to 500,000 passengers per year.
The Dien Bien Airport, 500 kilometers to the west of Hanoi, is the largest and the only commercial airport in the northwestern region of Vietnam. (Photo: VNA)
The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) is the investor of the project which is estimated to cost 1,547 billion VND (67 billion USD).
The airport will be upgraded to receive large aircraft such as Airbus A320s and A321s and those with equivalent size.
The expansion project will be implemented in 34 months.
The Dien Bien Airport, 500 kilometers to the west of Hanoi, is the largest and the only commercial airport in the northwestern region of Vietnam.
It was originally a military airport built in 1954. It began commercial operations in 1994. It has one 1,830-meter runway that can handle short-haul ATR72 and smaller aircraft. Its current capacity is 300,000 passengers per year.