Noi Bai airport overcome by summer travel hordes

An airport representative said the number of passengers has dramatically risen in recent days. The designed capacity of the domestic terminal is around 100,000 passengers a day, but that number had increased to 102,000 on June 24.

The number of domestic passengers at the airport has increased by 40 percent compared to peak periods in the summer of 2019, before Covid-19 struck.

“With the number of booked tickets, we expect passengers figures to reach 110,000 a day in early July,” the representative said.

The high number of passengers, along with the fact that more people are using personal vehicles to reach the airport instead of public transport, has overloaded the terminal’s parking lot. There are 555 parking spots, but even with measures to keep traffic flow steady, it still cannot handle the sheer numbers.

As such, the airport has encouraged passengers to use public transport instead of personal vehicles to travel to and from the terminal. If they choose to use a personal vehicle for pick-up purposes, the vehicle should arrive right before the plane lands to not take up unnecessary parking space.

In the long run, the airport plans to deploy an electronic toll collection system and build additional parking space.