Upgrading runway with budget capital

Carefulness and methodicalness can be seen in Official Dispatch No. 7942/BGTVT-KHĐT recently sent by the Ministry of Transport to Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha regarding the investment plan to upgrade Con Dao Airport.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Transport proposed that the Government allow the Ministry to continue to organize and implement the Investment Project to renovate and upgrade the runway and taxiway at Con Dao Airport using public investment capital, approved by the Minister of Transport in Decision No. 1795/QD-BGTVT dated October 14, 2021.

In addition, the Ministry of Transport also proposed to assign the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province to study and develop a project to invest in the civil aviation area of ​​Con Dao Airport under the PPP method to soon report to the Prime Minister for permission to implement.

Con Dao Airport has degraded and currently only serves small planes. Photo : AM

Previously, in Notice No. 110/TB-VPCP, dated April 4, 2023, of the Government Office on the investment, upgrading and expansion of Con Dao Airport, the Ministry of Transport was assigned to study the overall investment plan, synchronizing the items (runways, taxiways, passenger terminals) of Con Dao Airport.

In Official Dispatch No. 7942, the Ministry of Transport clearly explained why it took the state management agency of transport more than a year to find the optimal solution for upgrading Con Dao Airport.

According to Mr. Le Anh Tuan, Deputy Minister of Transport, immediately upon receiving the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, the Ministry of Transport directed the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam and relevant units to urgently review and study the overall investment plan, synchronizing the items of Con Dao Airport, ensuring safe and effective exploitation of code C aircraft (such as A320, A321, B737), including the content of reviewing and studying the plan to adjust the planning of Con Dao Airport.

In the initial review results conducted in May 2023, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam affirmed that the planning option with the existing runway direction is the optimal option.

To fully exploit the commercial load for mid-range aircraft such as the A321, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam reported that it is necessary to extend the runway about 860 m (to the East) towards the sea to reach a length of 2,400 m.

“According to this plan, the preliminary estimate of the investment cost for the development of Con Dao Airport is over 10,000 billion VND. Of which, the estimated investment cost for the airport area is about 10,600 billion VND; the investment cost for the civil aviation area is about 2,100 billion VND; the investment cost for the flight operations assurance facilities is about 350 billion VND; and the aviation fuel supply facility is about 150 billion VND,” said Mr. Pham Van Hao, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

However, due to the limited terrain of Con Dao Airport area, along with the complicated conditions of deployment to the sea, large investment costs, and large impacts on the environment, in order to have a sufficient basis for consideration, the Ministry of Transport has proposed using the Australian Government's aid capital to select a reputable international consulting unit to support the review and assessment of the runway's ability to meet the requirements and recommend the optimal aircraft type for exploitation at Con Dao Airport.

Through funding support from the Transport Sector Technical Assistance Program - Aus4Transport, functional units of the Ministry of Transport have selected an international consulting unit to review the investment plan for Con Dao Airport, ADPi (France).

It is known that ADPi is one of the world's leading consulting firms in airport planning and exploitation, having participated in the planning of many large airports in the world.

For nearly a year, ADPi has conducted surveys at Con Dao Airport, studied experiences of world airports with similar configurations, and worked with Vietnamese airlines and related units.

By June 2024, ADPi had its final report, which was highly appreciated by aviation industry units and agreed upon and supported by airlines.

According to ADPi's recommendation, the current runway length (1,830 m) of Con Dao Airport is sufficient to receive and effectively exploit most types of code C aircraft operated by Vietnamese airlines (A320neo/ceo, B737-7/8, E190/E195), except for A321 aircraft that must have reduced commercial payload.

The consulting unit also recommends that airlines should operate medium-sized code C aircraft (such as A320ceo/neo, A319, B737-7/8...) to ensure the highest operational efficiency as well as infrastructure investment efficiency, similar to the above-mentioned airports in the world, ensuring the exploitation of all domestic routes in Vietnam and the possibility of exploiting some international routes to Southeast Asia and North Asia.

There is still opportunity for private investors

The upgrading of Con Dao Airport has received special attention from the Ministry of Transport and the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province. Since 2021, the leaders of the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province have continuously sent documents to the National Assembly and the Government proposing the early implementation of the upgrade of this airport.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tho, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province, said that Con Dao is a typical district ensuring national defense and security, with great potential for socio-economic development, especially resort tourism, ecological tourism, and sea tourism with high-income customers, mainly using air transportation from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, etc. to get to the island.

Starting from June 2025, when resort infrastructure projects are completed and put into operation, it is forecasted that the number of tourists to the island will increase dramatically, reaching 2-3 million visitors/year by 2030.

According to the leader of the Ministry of Transport, the airport facilities (runways, taxiways) are the biggest bottleneck that prevents Con Dao Airport from receiving medium-sized aircraft.

Currently, the runway and taxiway at Con Dao Airport have degraded (built in 2004), poor load-bearing capacity, the runway width of 30 m does not meet the standards for operating code C aircraft, only meeting the operating requirements of aircraft types such as ATR72 and equivalent (Embraer E190/E195 reduced load).

Because the existing runway and taxiway infrastructure assets are owned by the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Transport is responsible for investment in accordance with the provisions of the law on public investment and the law on construction.

Previously, in October 2021, the Ministry of Transport approved the investment policy for the Project to renovate and upgrade the runway and taxiway at Con Dao Airport with a total investment of about 1,680 billion VND and was assigned by the Prime Minister a medium-term public investment plan using state budget capital for the period 2021-2025.

This project will invest in expanding and upgrading the existing runway structure according to the plan with a size of 1,830 m x 45 m; building a new parallel taxiway and connecting taxiways; adding items to ensure safety in operations; a synchronous landing equipment system to effectively operate code C aircraft (such as A319, A320neo/ceo, B737-7/8 and equivalent) in accordance with the Prime Minister's direction and the Plan.

The Ministry of Transport emphasized that the investment scale of the above project is basically consistent with the recommendations of international consultants to improve the exploitation capacity of Con Dao Airport.

In addition, some airlines are studying the plan to exploit routes to Con Dao Airport using aircraft types such as A320 and E190 (Vietjet plans to lease E190 aircraft for exploitation, after the airport is renovated and upgraded, it will exploit A320 aircraft; Vietnam Airlines plans to exploit A320 aircraft in the future).

According to airlines, in order to effectively exploit the above aircraft types, it is necessary to soon expand the runway and increase the load-bearing capacity of the road surface structure.

Therefore, the Ministry of Transport recommends continuing to implement the Project to Upgrade and Expand the Airport Area using public investment capital to soon put into operation code C aircraft, serving the travel needs of the people, ensuring absolute safety in operation and ensuring national defense and security.

"This is an investment plan that ensures effective exploitation as well as effective capital use with reasonable costs," Mr. Le Anh Tuan affirmed.

Regarding civil aviation projects, the Ministry of Transport believes that in the period up to 2030, it is necessary to research and invest in building a new civil aviation area (passenger terminal, parking lot, synchronous technical infrastructure) with a capacity of about 2 million passengers/year, with an estimated investment cost of about 2,100 billion VND.

The investment plan for civil aviation projects will follow the PPP method, based on the Con Dao Airport Civil Aviation Investment Project developed by the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province and submitted to competent authorities for approval.

It is known that the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province has received 2 proposals to participate in the investment project to upgrade and expand Con Dao Airport under the PPP form. Among these, the most notable is the very strong proposal of Sun Group.

Regarding specialized aviation service projects (providing airline meals, aviation fuel, etc.), the Ministry of Transport said that the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam will organize the selection of investors according to the provisions of the law on investment and the law on bidding.

In the process of developing the capacity of Con Dao Airport, based on actual demand and the attractiveness of investors, the Ministry of Transport will direct the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to organize the selection of investors according to regulations.

“For airport projects, after completing the investment, the Ministry of Transport will hand over to the People's Committee of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province to hand over to the investor for management and exploitation according to the project contract,” the leader of the Ministry of Transport informed.