Vinh airport renovation and upgrade plan postponed to June 2025 at the earliest

According to the previous plan, after serving the peak passenger traffic to Vinh during the Lunar New Year of At Ty in 2025, Vinh airport will stop serving for repairs and upgrades; by early July, it will resume serving passengers during the summer tourist season. However, due to procedures related to ministries and branches, especially the opinion of the Ministry of Transport, the plan to repair and upgrade Vinh airport will be postponed for 3 months, with construction starting in June 2025 at the earliest.

Previously, the Ministry of Transport agreed with the Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV) to invest 745 billion VND to renovate and repair the runway and taxiway of Vinh airport; construction is expected to take 4 months.

According to ACV's assessment, although Vinh airport is in operation, the runway and taxiway of Vinh airport are degraded and have exceeded their design life.

Vinh Airport has only one runway, 2,400 m long and 45 m wide, which was put into use at the end of 2003. In July 2023, Vinh Airport had to close for nearly 16 hours due to about 40 m²runway cracked asphalt

To ensure safe operation of new aircraft, runways and taxiways need to be repaired and brake strips built at both ends of the runway, measuring 100 x 60 m. In particular, the runway is proposed to be constructed of steel mesh cement concrete to limit adverse weather conditions.

During the construction period of about 4 months, ACV proposed to close the airport after the Lunar New Year 2025; passengers traveling to and from Nghe An can go to a nearby airport or choose other means of transport.

The Ministry of Transport requested that during the implementation of repair procedures, ACV continue to strengthen the maintenance of runways and taxiways at Vinh International Airport according to technical standards on aviation maintenance and maintenance procedures, take responsibility for ensuring safe operations and smooth air transport operations; promptly report to the Ministry of Transport any difficulties and problems.

On the side of ACV and Vinh International Airport, they also proposed that the Ministry of Transport agree with the People's Committee of Nghe An province to study the investment plan to expand the airport, including clearing the land according to the planning boundary to build and arrange the approach lighting system, increase the size of the flight strip, security fence system... to ensure takeoff and landing in bad weather conditions, such as thick fog or to serve night flights./.