Vietnamese National Assembly has approved the construction of a new US$16 billion international airport by 2025 to relieve the load on Tan Son Nhat airport. The assembly passed a resolution for the planned Long Thanh International Airport to be built just outside the southern commercial hub of Ho Chi Minh City.

The airport will eventually have the capacity to handle 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo a year. Stage one, running from 2018 to 2025, will cost $5.4 billion, and on completion, will handle 25 million passengers and 1.2 billion tonnes of goods a year.

The cost will be financed from the state budget and from selling shares in state-owned aviation companies, as well as development aid and other sources, the government said.

The government says once Long Thanh becomes operational, it will handle mostly international flights while Tan Son Nhat will be used for most domestic flights and some international flights.