HCMC – The construction of a new multi-storey parking lot has been proposed for the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC to provide extra space for vehicles entering the overcrowded airport.
The Southern Airports Authority (SAA) and the HCMC Transport Department have put forward a plan to develop a new parking lot, the local media reported.
Nguyen Minh Tuan, deputy director at SAA, said the airport currently has no zone for vehicles waiting to enter the domestic and international terminals to pick up passengers while the current carparks are always full. Traditional taxi cabs and ride-hailing cars have to park their vehicles along the roads around the airport, leading to traffic congestion.
The new parking lot will offer more parking space for these vehicles, Tuan said.
In addition, many international air routes have yet to reach their full capacity due to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine military conflict. When the services on these routes are fully restored in the future, the number of passengers at the airport will definitely surge, causing traffic congestion to get worse.
It could take a long time for passenger terminal T3 at the airport and the Long Thanh International Airport project in neighboring Dong Nai Province to be built to help ease the passenger overload facing Tan Son Nhat. Therefore, it is essential to build one more parking lot, the SAA official explained.
Echoing Tuan’s viewpoint, Nguyen Thanh Nam from the Southern Airports Corporation said the airport needs one more parking lot.
The airport’s existing eight-story parking building has a total floor area of 67,000 square meters that can house 6,000 motorcycles, 1,500 cars, and 700 taxi cabs. On average, around 6,600 motorcycles and 4,500 cars enter the airport per day. Particularly, during the two summer travel months, the facility has been overwhelmed as it normally serves up to 9,500 motorcycles and 6,500 cars daily.
As for measures taken to ease the passenger overload at the airport, the HCMC Transport Department adjusted the pickup and drop-off locations for public buses at the airport early this month. It also aligned the pickup time of the airport bus line No.152 with flight departure and arrival times at the airport, and increased the operating time of other airport bus lines, said Bui Hoa An, deputy director at the department.
The local police will also ramp up efforts to tackle rampant passenger transport services at the airport.
