Vietnam’s national carrier, Vietnam Airlines, has said that it would prefer to stay at what is currently Ho Chi Minh City’s only international airport, Tan Son Nhat, when a second airport at Long Thanh is completed. It is essentially arguing that airport transfers will be more challenging–currently, it’s possible to walk from the domestic to the international terminal, however, when the new airport is complete it will require taking a bus; and it does not want to pay the increased costs of managing ground operations at two airports.
On this last point, it is somewhat understandable. Vietnam Airlines is still struggling to recover from flight stoppages during the pandemic and is currently negative equity. That said, the president of the airline back in December said that overcrowding at airports in the burgeoning Southeast Asian nation cost the national carrier US$20 million in 2022. In this light, a new airport is needed and that being the case someone needs to pay for it.
More broadly, Vietnam’s domestic airline industry has taken a series of hits over the last five years that have seen two airlines on the cusp of disappearing altogether, and the national carrier at risk of being delisted from the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange.
For more information see: Vietnam’s Airline Industry Turbulence: Unpacked