Published:  13:51 Friday - December 14, 2012

The Ministry of Transport opened Vietnam’s newest international airport on Phu Quoc Island in the Mekong Delta’s province of Kien Giang on November 30.

The VND16.2 trillion (US$777.4 million) Phu Quoc International Airport, the construction of which began four years ago, will become operational as of midnight December 2, news website VnExpress reported.

The 900 hectare international airport is set to serve more than 2.6 million passengers each year.

When it becomes fully operational in 2030, the airport is expected to receive as much as 20 planes and 3,500 passengers during peak hours and serve 7 million travelers each year.

The Ministry also decided to close the current Phu Quoc Airport, located more than 10 kilometers away from the international airport, one minute before opening the new one. The existing Phu Quoc Airport can only receive 248,000 passengers per year.

At the moment, Vietnam Airlines has 60 flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc and seven flights from the island town to Mekong Delta’s Can Tho City.

As of December 12, the national carrier will open five flights per week from Hanoi to Phu Quoc, the longest domestic flight in Vietnam; that same day private budget carrier VietJetAir will begin offering one daily flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc.

Huynh Quang Hung, deputy chairman of the Phu Quoc People Assembly, said the international airport will speed up the development of Phu Quoc District and all of Kien Giang Province.

The airport will enable the island district, which now receives around 600,000 passengers per year by airplane, to become a center for tourism and services and connect it to other areas of Vietnam as well as international destinations, which will increase trade, he added.

Vietnam currently has eight international airports and 13 domestic ones along the country.