Construction of Long Thanh Airport’s second runway set to be completed in 7 months

To meet the target set by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh that all packages and components of Long Thanh International Airport must be completed by December 19, 2025, only seven months are left for the construction of the airport’s second runway.

Night construction of the second runway at Long Thanh Airport, Phase 1. Photo: P.Tung

Half-year acceleration

At the end of March 2025, the Prime Minister approved adjustments to Phase 1 of Long Thanh Airport project. The Prime Minister’s Decision included the approval to add a second runway during the project’s first phase.

Previously, in mid-2024, Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), the investor of Project Component 3 and essential airport works, submitted a report to the then Ministry of Transport (now Ministry of Construction) proposing the construction of a second runway right in Phase 1 of Long Thanh Airport project.

ACV’s proposal was based on its calculations of landing and takeoff demands for Terminal T1, with a capacity of 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per year. ACV also noted that having two runways for all possible contingency is essential at a high-capacity airport in case one runway experiences technical issues.

The second runway at Long Thanh Airport measures 4 km in length and 75 m in width. Previously, as of late April 2025, the first runway (Runway 1) of Phase 1 had been completed and technically operational, three months ahead of the signed contract schedule.

 

According to Nguyen Tien Viet, Deputy General Director of ACV, at the end of May 2025, ACV and its consortium of contractors started construction of the second runway for Phase 1. Under the signed contract, the second runway was scheduled for completion by June 2026.

However, in the conclusion notice of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh during the meeting to progress review of Long Thanh Airport project, following an on-site inspection in early August 2025, which was issued by the Government Office, the PM required that by December 19, 2025, all project packages and components, including the second runway of Long Thanh Airport, must be completed. As a result, the construction period for the second runway in Phase 1 has been shortened by six months compared to the signed contract.

“Working day and night”

With the shortened construction schedule, immediately after groundbreaking, the investor directed the contractor consortium to mobilize maximum manpower, machinery, and equipment to speed up construction; simultaneously, construction was to be maintained on a “3-shift, 4-team” basis to meet the PM’s deadline.

Workers construct the second runway at Long Thanh Airport, Phase 1. Photo: P.Tung

According to the Steering Committee of the consortium for the second runway of Long Thanh Airport Phase 1, contractors have recently been concentrating manpower and equipment, accelerating construction both day and night, aiming to basically complete the main components of the second runway by the end of 2025, about six months ahead of the signed contract.

Le Huy Tien, Director of the Steering Committee of the consortium for the second runway, said that currently over 900 workers and equipment are deployed, with 40 construction fronts. At the site, contractors are focusing on excavation, runway foundation, and cement concrete work.

According to Director Le Huy Tien, during the second runway construction, contractors need to excavate more than 2.7 million cubic meters of soil and use approximately 500,000 cubic meters of materials (sand, stone). To accelerate progress, over 100,000 cubic meters of materials have been pre-positioned on-site, with large numbers of manpower and machinery deployed in “3 shifts, 4 teams.” “Given the project’s strategic importance and the need for synchronization of items upon operation, the involved units have implemented multiple solutions. In the near future, an additional 500 workers and machinery will be mobilized to the site, targeting essential completion of the second runway by the end of this year,” Tien said.

By: Pham Tung

Translated by: M.Nguyet-Thu Ha