The ministry, which is responsible for the repair and maintenance of runways and taxiways at all 21 airports in Vietnam, noted in an urgent message to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc that the country’s two largest airlines are under considerable pressure due to the increasing demand for air travel.
Also, their runways and taxiways have been used beyond their designed capacities, resulting in shifts, fractures, road subsidence and mud emergence at expansion joints, as well as the flaking and cracking of concrete slabs.
The Airports Corporation of Vietnam has funded minor repairs of the damaged infrastructure, but this is a temporary fix, according to the ministry.
Ministry officials added that if the renovation and upgrade of the two airports, Noi Bai in Hanoi and Tan Son Nhat in HCMC, are not completed soon, flight operations would be at risk.
Therefore, the ministry suggested the prime minister consider allocating 10% of the reserve capital from the medium-term public investment plan for the 2016-2020 period to finance the repairs of the airports’ runways and taxiways.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) stated in a report last month that two runways at the Hanoi-based Noi Bai airport have sustained cracks and deformations, and one of them is dented with two tire marks, each measuring one meter in width. Taxiways linking these runways are also deteriorating.
CAAV deputy head Pham Van Hao told the Tuoi Tre newspaper that the degradation of the airport infrastructure increases with each flight served at the airdrome.
“The two runways and some taxiways have been in use for a long time, and the flight frequency at the airport has been rising steadily, which only worsens the deterioration,” he said.
Flights to and from the airport are facing safety risks, due to the degradation of runways and taxiways there. Work should be done quickly as the facilities may become too damaged for further use, according to the aviation watchdog.
