Plan to remove wartime revetments in HCMC airport under way

It is drafting a feasibility report for the plan after discussing it with the Ministry of Transport.

The work will cost VND95 billion ($4 million) and see the removal of 12 revetments built during the Vietnam War and construction of seven new ones 800m away.

Revetments are a parking area for one or more aircraft that is surrounded by blast wall on three sides. The walls are as much about protecting neighboring aircraft as it is to protect the aircraft within the revetment.

Each of them is 20m long, 10m wide and 3m high and prevent a taxiway from being used, affecting the operation of large aircraft.

Of the proposed new ones, three will be 22m long and 30m wide while the remaining four will be 60m long and wide. All will be four meters high and capable of serving 11 military aircraft of different sizes.

The work will also include the construction of a taxiway between the new structures and runways.

“The new revetments can serve both military and civilian aircraft,” Lieutenant General Vu Van Kha, acting commander of the Air and Air Defense Force, said.

Tan Son Nhat is the largest and busiest airport in Vietnam, handling up to 840-850 flights and 130,000 passengers a day.

It has been serving 36 million passengers a year since 2017 as against its designed capacity of 25 million by 2020.

Aircraft revetments built during the Vietnam War at Tan Son Nhat Airport as seen in a Google Map’s satellite image, June 2022.