Vietnam Aviation

Since ending COVID-19 travel restrictions, Vietnam now leads the world’s fastest recovering domestic aviation sector and is the world’s 5th fastest growing aviation market, expected to reach 150 million air transport passengers by 2035, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). During the first six months of 2022, Vietnam’s airports served 40.7 million passengers, 765,000 tons cargoes, up 56.8 percent and 30.6 percent over the same period last year, respectively, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV), the agency under the Ministry of Transport (MOT) that regulates the aviation industry. The CAAV forecasts airports nationwide will serve approximately 87.8 million passengers and 1.5 million tons cargoes in 2022, up 190 percent and 5 percent compared to 2021, respectively. 

The strong recovery presents potential opportunities for U.S. companies, especially as Vietnam looks to increase investment in airport infrastructure.

Upcoming tenders for Mega Long Thanh International Airport Phase 1

Located 40km northeast of Ho Chi Minh City Tan Son Nhat Airport, new $16.3 billion Long Thanh International Airport is planned to become one of the biggest and the most advanced aviation transportation hubs of the Southeast Asian region, with capacity of 100 million passengers and 5 million tons of cargo per annual, divided into three construction phases. For the first phase (2020-2025), the airport will be able to accommodate 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo per annual with total investment cost of US$ 5.46 billion.

U.S. companies may find significant opportunities in the Phase 1 project as below tender plan:

Package 2: $136 million air traffic management facilities, invested by Vietnam Air Traffic Management 
This package is still under detailed design process. 

Package 3: $4.3 billion essential airport facilities, invested by Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV).
Detailed design has been approved in September 2022. ACV plans to issue EPC tender by September, 2022, and to start terminal construction by November 2022. 

Package 4: Other supporting facilities. Project owners will be selected by MOT.
Sub package 4.1: $6.3 million project in the construction and operation of ground-handling service facilities and aircraft cleaning treatment area.
MOT received interest from four investors, including Hanoi Ground Service JSC, Saigon Group Serve JSC, Vietnam Airport Ground Services Co., Ltd., and Vietjet Aviation JSC. Investor selection is planned by September to  to start construction by April 2023. 
Sub package 4.4: 120 million MRO hangar no. 1,2,3,4

MOT received interest from 5 MRO providers, named Vietnam Airlines Engineering Co (VAECO), VietJet Aircraft Maintenance (VJC AMO), Bamboo Airways Aircraft Maintenance (BAV AMO), Southern Airport Aircraft Maintenance (SAAM), Vietstar Aero Engineering. Investor selection is planned from now till July 2023 to start construction. 

Contact us: Nga Hoang (Ho Chi Minh City) at Nga.Hoang@trade.gov  or Anh Nguyen (Hanoi) at Anh.Nguyen@trade.gov