Northern province eyes $276-mln airport to stimulate tourism

The airport will come up on 350 hectares but local authorities have not said where.

The airport would help boost economic development in Son La, home to the world’s longest glass bridge and which has potential for developing tourism, the province said in a proposal to the Ministry of Transport.

It has proposed that the airport will be built in two phases in public-private partnership mode, and have a capacity of two million passengers a year.

Also last month the northwestern province had wanted the government let it build Na San airport also in PPP mode by renovating and expanding an abandoned airport in Mai Son District.

Son La received 2.5 million tourists in 2019, the year before Covid began, after growing at an annual average of 23 percent.

Several localities have recently sought approval for building airports to foster economic growth, including the northern province of Ninh Binh, the central province of Ha Tinh and the southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau.

The country currently has 22 civilian airports, including 10 international air hubs, with Tan Son Nhat in Ho Chi Minh City and Noi Bai in Hanoi being the two biggest.