The group is expecting to launch a field survey in Noi Bai International Airport in the capital of Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City after a recent meeting with local state agency.

Its representatives have met with leaders of the Ministry of Transport for the proposal on the establishment of a joint venture with Vietnam’s airport operators, according to Dinh Viet Thang, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam.

In 2008, Changi Airport Group has signed a memorandum of cooperation with the operator of the airport clusters in central Vietnam on investment, development and exploitation of the Phu Bai International Airport in the central city of Hue.

The local airport industry has also drawn the attention of US investors, as the country has planned to repair and upgrade 26 terminals in the next eight years, which requires an enormous VND221 trillion (US$10.1 billion).

The Ministry of Transport has recently set up the Agency for Private – Public Partnership , which will develop the legal framework for the country to attract investments from the private sector, both in Vietnam and other nations, into its traffic infrastructure projects, including airports.

Once the legal framework is completed, local and foreign businesses in the private sector will be able to invest in airports and other traffic infrastructure projects in Vietnam.

Sourcing capital for such investments from the private sector is essential at a time when state capital falls short of what’s needed for airport construction in the 2012 – 2020 period, said Lai Xuan Thanh, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV).

US-Vietnam Aviation Cooperation Working Group in late September held a conference bringing together US and Vietnamese experts on terminal passenger handling, airport safety-security and airport capacity and efficiency in Ho Chi Minh City.

The event was co-organized by the US Consulate in HCMC, Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), and CAAV, has brought together US and Vietnamese experts on terminal passenger handling, airport safety-security and airport capacity and efficiency.