Vietnam's Civil Aviation Authority has asked the Ministry of Construction to move the completion deadline for six airport service projects at Long Thanh to 23 December 2026 at the latest, one day before the new airport is due to open. It rejected requests from Vietjet and the catering firm VACS to push work into the first or second quarter of 2027, Thanh Nien reported.
The projects belong to component project 4 and cover ground handling, in-flight catering and aircraft maintenance hangars. The adjusted contract deadline was 31 August 2026, so four late projects faced contract penalties from 1 October.
The report says two projects have finished basic construction and are installing equipment: catering project 2 and the ground-services and equipment maintenance project 2. Four have not: catering project 1, ground-services project 1, aircraft maintenance project 1, and aircraft maintenance projects 3 and 4.
What the investors said
Vietjet said its maintenance project started eight months later than the others and cited a shortage of technical staff, a complex acceptance process and long equipment import times. It proposed running the main hangar, workshop and apron from 24 December and reaching full capacity in April 2027.
VACS said a delayed site handover, after a tunnel was built where its ancillary buildings were due, held it up. It proposed starting the catering plant, power station and pump station on 24 December and finishing the rest in March 2027.
VAECO cited labour shortages and rising material and fuel costs and asked for December 2026. VIAGS asked to finish building on 15 December, citing unfinished shared airport infrastructure and scarce materials.
The authority's position
The authority accepted some causes as objective, notably that airport operator ACV had not yet connected shared water supply and wastewater systems. It said staffing, materials and construction organisation are the investors' responsibility and told them to add shifts and work crews.
It called the Vietjet and VACS requests to slip into 2027 "without basis". The airport is due to open to commercial flights at 00:00 on 24 December 2026, based on directions from Standing Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc and an ACV document.
The authority's request still needs the Ministry of Construction's approval.
Sources
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