Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang has asked for accelerated progress on the upgrades and expansion of Pleiku Airport in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai which began in late September last year.
Passengers are going to the Pleiku Airport, in Gia Lai Province,. The Airport will be closed for 7 months for repairing work.
During his tour to the locality on March 11 to inspect the project’s implementation, the Minister noted that the investors and contractors should take advantage of the current favourable weather patterns to hasten progress, while emphasising the importance of supervising and ensuring quality.Per the announced project agenda, the airport’s runway, taxiway, hangers and other facilities will be upgraded and expanded to the west.
Notably, the runway was enlarged from 36 metres in width to 45 metres and from 1,830 metres in length to 2,400 metres in order to accommodate A321, Boeing 737 and other equivalently-sized aircraft.
The project has an investment of 945 billion VND (44.5 million USD), co-funded by the State budget, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam and Gia Lai’s provincial budget. The project’s first phase was completed earlier this month and its second phase is scheduled to be complete in late August.
The same day, Thang also examined the construction of Ho Chi Minh Highway section running through the Central Highlands.
He hailed effort of the project’s Management Board and relevant units in accelerating the progress and ensuring the quality of the work, noting that the Ministry will swiftly address contractors who did not meet quality standards as committed.
Flights from and to Pleiku Airport will be halted from March 15 till October 25 for the repairs to be conducted, airport director Nguyen Trong Hai said.
According to Hai, the first phase of the project included the extension and upgrade of the runways and parking lots at the airport, which was opened in September last year, with a total investment of VND945 billion (US$44.2 million). The first phase has been completed.
The airport will now be closed for seven months for carrying out the project's second phase of upgrading the terminal and runways, Hai said.
During the period of closure, passengers from the two provinces of Gia Lai and Kontum will use the airports of Phu Cat in Binh Dinh Province and Buon Ma Thuot in Dak Lak Province.
After completion, the Pleiku Airport will be accessible to planes A320/321 and the like.
At present, only Vietnam Airlines is using the airport, with flights arriving from Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City.
In the future, two other carriers VietJetAir and Jetstar Pacific will also use the airport, Hai said.
