3,500 sqm parking lot proposed for Tan Son Nhat airport

According to Southern Airports Authority and HCMC Transport Department, the parking lot aims to ease congestion along roads leading to the airport.

So far, taxi drivers of both traditional and app-based services have parked on these roads while waiting to pick up arrivals due to a lack of parking space, Nguyen Minh Tuan, the authority’s deputy head, told a city meeting Thursday.

The proposed parking lot will cover in excess of 3,500 square meters near the route leading to the airport’s international terminal.

The state-owned lot is currently managed by the authority.

Tuan said the number of international flights arriving at Tan Son Nhat has yet to reach its highest capacity under the impacts of the ongoing Ukraine war.

In the near future, when those flights are recovered, more passengers will arrive.

“It would be way too long to wait for the third terminal of Tan Son Nhat or the Long Thanh airport to be completed,” Tuan said.

According to an approved plan, the Ministry of National Defense will hand over 16.05 hectares of land to build the third terminal at Tan Son Nhat airport. As ordered by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, work on the terminal must be completed within 2024.

Long Thanh airport in Dong Nai Province bordering HCMC is under construction to replace Tan Son Nhat as the nation’s largest airport. Its first phase is scheduled to start operation in 2025.

Nguyen Thanh Nam, head of the operations control department under Southern Airports Authority, said an additional parking lot is needed for entering and exiting vehicles.

Currently, the total floor area for parking in Tan Son Nhat is 67,000 square meters, including a basement and seven floors to accommodate 6,000 motorbikes, 1,500 cars and 700 taxi cabs in total.

However, on average, the parking lot has been serving 6,600 motorbikes and 4,500 cars per day. In June and July, the peak summer travel season, it received 9,500 motorbikes and 6,500 cars per day.