The Government Office says in a recent announcement sent to relevant agencies that the Prime Minister has agreed Phu Bai Airport in the central province to be developed by a joint venture with the Vietnamese side holding a controlling stake.

The Ministry of Transport has been told to work with related ministries and the Thua Thien-Hue government to map out plans for upgrading the airport and forming such a joint venture for submission to the Prime Minister before negotiations with the foreign partner.

Last month, the Prime Minister endorsed a master plan to modernize Phu Bai Airport in the period between now and 2020, with a vision towards 2030, at a total investment cost of VND12.5 trillion (around USD 705 million).

Under the plan, capital will be mobilized from different sources to turn Phu Bai Airport in Huong Thuy District into an international airport able to receive modern aircraft including Airbus A320s, A321s, Boeing B767s and B777-200 LRs.

The airport is expected to handle five million passengers a year in 2020, and nine million passengers in 2030. The annual cargo volume will reach 100,000 tons in 2020 and 200,000 tons in 2030. The 527-hectare airport will have parking plots for 23 and 43 aircraft in those years respectively.

As outlined in the plan, the current runway will be extended by an additional 45 meters in length and more than three meters in width in the next 11 years before a second runway will be in place, hopefully after 2030.

Every year, more than 500,000 passengers go through Phu Bai Airport, and most of them are tourists.

Singapore’s Changi Airports International Pte. Ltd. (CAI) is the first foreign investor interested in Phu Bai Airport development as it struck a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Middle Airports Authority of Vietnam (MAA) in Hanoi in February 2008.

The agreement paved the way for the foreign partner to invest, develop and operate Phu Bai International Airport in order to better cater to more local and international leisure and business travelers to the central city.

CAI executives had told the Daily after the MOU signing ceremony that the form of its investment in Phu Bai Airport would depend on further discussions with the Vietnamese side as well as studying the site, the potential and operation of Phu Bai Airport.

The two sides, however, did not reach common ground over the cost and operating system of Phu Bai as well as the interest of the shareholders in the joint venture in their initial discussions, according to local aviation authorities.