Vietnam has deployed its army to meet the year-end deadline of opening the country’s largest airport – a project that has already gone past its original 2025 launch date.
According to the projected timeline, the Long Thanh International Airport - located 40km from Ho Chi Minh City - is slated to go through three testing phases starting September to November, before starting commercial operations in December.
On 1 June, investor Airports Corporation of Vietnam had launched a 180-day campaign to accelerate the air hub’s completion, including round-the-clock construction.
At a site inspection on 13 June, construction minister Tran Hong Minh said the airport is more than 76% completed.
The site requires 9,000 workers and engineers, and while more help had been pulled into the project in recent weeks, the minister confirmed that the army will bridge a shortfall of some 2,000 workers.
A key factor to this labour crunch comes from concurrent projects in the country, including the nearby Bien Hoa-Vung Tau expressway and the expansion of the Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway.
Currently completed are the first runway and aircraft apron, with about a third more to go for the passenger terminal.
Phase one is expected to handle 25 million travellers annually. The completion of the planned expressway – no date has been set yet – will also mean a 30-minute ride to and from central Ho Chi Minh City.
Authorities have positioned the 5,000-hectares airport as a regional hub, and are working towards completing the project ahead of Vietnam’s hosting of the APEC 2027 Summit.