Con Dao airport runway may be expanded

The Ministry of Transport proposed expanding the runway from 30 to 45 m and building a new parallel taxiway to accommodate large aircraft such as A320, A321, and B737.

In a recent report to the Government on the investment plan to upgrade Con Dao airport, the Ministry of Transport said that for nearly a year, international consulting firm ADPi (France) has reviewed the investment plan and studied the experience of similar airports around the world. In June, ADPi had its final report.

According to the consultant’s recommendation, the current runway length of 1,830 m of Con Dao airport is enough to accommodate most medium-sized code C aircraft operated by Vietnamese airlines such as A320 neo/ceo, B737-7/8, E190/E195, except for A321 aircraft that must have reduced payload.

The consulting unit recommends that airlines should exploit code C aircraft as above to ensure the efficiency of Vietnam’s domestic routes and some international routes from Southeast Asia, North Asia to Con Dao.

In addition, Con Dao airport needs a refueling area, parallel taxiways to increase capacity by 50% and add safety features.

 ATR aircraft landing at Con Dao airport. Photo: Tieu Long.

Based on the research of the French consultant, the Ministry of Transport proposed that the Government continue to implement the investment project to renovate and upgrade the runway and taxiway at Con Dao airport with a total investment of about 1,680 billion VND. The project has been assigned by the Prime Minister as a medium-term public investment plan using state budget capital for the period 2021-2025.

This project includes expanding the existing runway according to the plan with the size of 1,830×45 m; building a new parallel taxiway and connecting taxiways; adding safety items; synchronous landing equipment system to effectively exploit code C aircraft.

Regarding the passenger terminal, the Ministry of Transport proposed to invest in the form of PPP. By 2030, the airport will need to have an additional passenger terminal, parking lot, and new technical infrastructure with a capacity of 2 million passengers/year, costing about 2,100 billion VND.

Built during the French period, in 2004 Con Dao airport was upgraded to 3C and military level II standards with a runway 1,830 m long, 30 m wide, and 4 parking lots to accommodate ATR72, F70 and equivalent aircraft.

Con Dao has great potential for socio-economic development, especially resort tourism, ecological tourism, and marine tourism. According to the People’s Committee of Ba Ria – Vung Tau province, from June 2025, when resort infrastructure projects are put into operation, it is forecasted that the demand for tourists to the island will increase dramatically, reaching 2-3 million by 2030.

However, the airport facilities (runways, taxiways) are the biggest bottleneck, causing Con Dao airport to currently only be able to accommodate small aircraft such as ATR and equivalent.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam once proposed a plan to extend the runway 860 meters further out to sea to accommodate medium-range aircraft such as the A321. However, this plan would require an investment of over VND10,000 billion. In addition, the conditions for deploying the runway further out to sea are complicated, causing a major impact on the environment.

Source: Vnexpress.