The runways of Tan Son Nhat Airport in Ho Chi Minh City and Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, the two largest airports in Vietnam, are facing risk of closure due to cracks on their surface and signs of deterioration caused by excessive operations of aircraft, Tuoi Tre News reported.
Cracks on the surface of the runway. Photo by ACV.
|
Accordingly, the runway at Tan Son Nhat airport is compatible with aircraft as large as Boeing B777-300ER or equivalent. It is designed to accommodate 55,100 takeoffs and landings in ten years. However, so far it has handled 126,000 operations.
Besides, the airport also takes other aircraft with heavy load and higher-pressure gears namely A350-900, B787-9, adding to the risks of more cracks and accelerated wearing out of the runway surface.
The runway at Noi Bai airport is experiencing cracked and sunken foundation. At some sections, the skid marks are visible on the surface.
According to ACV Chairman Lai Xuan Thanh, the deteriorated runways of the two airports need recarpetting to ensure the safety of the airplanes, however, due to some entanglements regarding current regulations stipulating the infrastructures are the state properties and the corporation has no competence to conduct the repair.
However, Thanh stressed that if the task is handed over to ACV, they could repair the runways with their own fund.
Previously, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh had demanded relevant units to soon remove hurdles in the airfield infrastructure.
The total investment to renovate the deteriorated runway at Tan Son Nhat airport is VND2,238 billion (US$96.5 million) and that of Noi Bai airport is VND2,290 billion (US$98.7 million), according to ACV.
