Photo: Collected

(VTC News) - Dien Bien Airport reopened with the first test flight using the modern Airbus A321 aircraft of Vietnam Airlines.

Vietnam Airlines has announced that from December 2, 2023, Vietnam Airlines will operate regular flights Hanoi - Dien Bien with a frequency of 7 flights/week on all days of the week.

The flight departs from Hanoi at 13:05 and arrives in Dien Bien at 14:05. The return trip departs from Dien Bien at 2:45 p.m. and lands in Hanoi at 3:35 p.m.

From December 2, 2023, Vietnam Airlines will operate regular flights Hanoi - Dien Bien with a frequency of 7 flights/week on all days of the week.

Dien Bien Airport is about to come back into operation with a 2,400m long runway, meeting technical standards for modern aircraft. Vietnam Airlines will operate the Dien Bien route with Airbus A321 aircraft. This is the aircraft line used by the airline to operate on Asian routes and domestic routes. Vietnam Airlines' A321 fleet has 3 configurations: 178 seats, 184 seats and 203 seats.

Thus, after many months of closure for upgrading and expansion, Dien Bien airport officially reopened.

The Dien Bien airport expansion project started in January 2022, officially closing the airport for repairs from April. The project has a total investment of 1,467.7 billion VND, funded by Airports Corporation of Vietnam. Site clearance costs have a total investment of 1,555 billion VND from the budget of Dien Bien province.

The investment and construction project to expand Dien Bien airport has been approved by the Prime Minister for investment policy in Decision No. 470/QD-TTg dated March 27, 2021 with the investment in construction and expansion of runways meeting technical standards for modern aircraft such as A320 and A321.

At the same time, the airport's passenger terminal is designed with two floors, increasing capacity from 300,000 passengers/year to 500,000 passengers/year.

The runway is 2,400 m long, 45 m wide, the edge is 7.5 m wide on each side, the brake strip at both ends of the runway is 100 m long, 60 m wide, and the turning yard is at both ends of the runway. In addition, new complementary infrastructure and civil aviation areas were renovated and built to ensure synchronous operation of A320, A321 and equivalent aircraft.

Dien Bien Airport is located in Thanh Truong ward, Dien Bien Phu city, which was restored from Muong Thanh airport built by the French in 1939.

In its early days, the airport had a runway measuring only 1,200 x 25m with gravel ground, able to withstand the load of fighter aircraft and light transports such as Morane, Potez... In the early days, there was almost nothing except a runway, a small apron and drainage ditches.

In 1984, on the 30th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu victory, the Hanoi - Dien Bien route used airplanes AN24, AK40. Due to unfavorable technical conditions, after only 10 months of operation, the flight path was cut to repair the runway. After repairs, the airport resumed operations and the aircraft was an ATR72.

From 1990 to 2004, Dien Bien airport invested tens of billions of dong in new construction and repair of works such as taxiways, aircraft aprons, passenger terminals, car parks, and other works such as flight management and command tower.

Perspective of Dien Bien Phu airport (Illustration).

Until 2021, Dien Bien airport still had a small scale with 1 runway 1,830m long, 30m wide, simple equipment system, aircraft apron with 3 parking positions, passenger terminal with the capacity of 300,000 visitors/year.

Due to limitations in clearance heights at both ends of the takeoff and landing runway, Dien Bien airport only ensures the operation of ATR72 aircraft and equivalent during the day (in favorable weather conditions).

Previously, this airport could only operate the Hanoi - Dien Bien flight. By 2021, Bamboo Airways was able to exploit the Ho Chi Minh City - Dien Bien flight thanks to the use of the Embraer 190 small jet line.

In order to develop the Dien Bien economy in particular and the Northwest region's economy in general, on March 27, 2021, the Prime Minister approved the investment policy of the Dien Bien airport expansion construction investment project.

Until now, Dien Bien is the only province among the 6 Northwest border provinces of Vietnam to have an airport.

On October 27, the Vietnam Aviation Administration issued a document on reopening flights to and from Dien Bien airport. Accordingly, the project will be completed and allowed to be put back into operation by the Ministry of Transport from December 2.

Reference: vtc.vn