On October 30, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) announced that it had dispatched an official notice to the People’s Committee of Dong Nai regarding the projected operational launch of Long Thanh International Airport starting from 0:00 on December 24, 2026.
The scheduled timeline announced by ACV is grounded in the operational planning roadmap for Long Thanh Airport. It establishes a definitive benchmark for line agencies and relevant units to align their final preparations, aiming toward safe, synchronized, and comprehensive commercial operations.
ACV formally requested the People’s Committee of Dong Nai to instruct affiliated departments and units to coordinate and assist the corporation within their respective functions, duties, and jurisdictions, creating favorable conditions to put the airport into service.
Currently, core infrastructure components of Long Thanh Airport are undergoing synchronized completion to serve commercial launch requirements. These assets include the runway system, taxiways, and aircraft aprons; aeronautical ground lighting and navigation aids; passenger and cargo terminals; aviation jet fuel supply infrastructure; emergency search and rescue and firefighting facilities; aviation security systems; alongside the air traffic control tower and flight navigation support structures.
To facilitate passenger transit during the initial operational phase, ACV previously proposed that authorities study priority transport solutions connecting to Long Thanh Airport.
Under these proposals, dedicated airport express buses and inter-airport shuttles operating between Long Thanh and Tan Son Nhat could receive dedicated transit priority at major intersections and along critical arterial corridors. This approach aims to mitigate traffic gridlock risks and secure predictable, reliable travel times for air passengers.
Over the long term, ACV plans to build an integrated multimodal transit network linking Long Thanh International Airport with Tan Son Nhat International Airport and key regional metropolitan hubs. Ground transportation modes, including public bus routes, express coaches, and inter-airport transit vehicles, will directly tie into primary transit junctions, public passenger transfer centers, and future urban rail networks.
Airports Corporation of Vietnam plans to allocate a maximum of around 366 flights per week at Long Thanh International Airport during its preliminary operational window. Domestic services will make up the bulk of early operations with 322 flights, alongside 44 scheduled international departures and arrivals.
Long Thanh International Airport spans an area of approximately 5,000 hectares in Dong Nai, with an estimated total capital expenditure exceeding 16 billion USD—equivalent to roughly 416 trillion VND—divided into three distinct investment phases.
Phase 1 represents an investment of over 5.4 billion USD, engineered to process 25 million passengers and handle 1.2 million tons of cargo per year. The opening phase is scheduled for completion at the end of 2026 after more than five years of construction.
Upon full development across all three phases, Long Thanh Airport’s design capacity will scale up to 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of freight annually. With this scale, Long Thanh is positioned to emerge as one of Southeast Asia’s major international aviation transit hubs.
The facility features a 4,000-meter primary runway capable of accommodating the largest wide-body commercial aircraft, including the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747-8. This represents a foundational infrastructure asset engineered to serve long-haul intercontinental flight networks in the coming years.
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