PM Nguyễn Tấn Dũng has approved the planning of the Long Thành International Airport in the Southern province of Đồng Nai, which was designed to cater for 100 million passengers and five million tones of cargo, annually.

Designed to have the scope of 4F level under the code of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the airport is expected to become a transit center in the Southeast Asia region and is to receive aircraft A380-800.

Located in Long Thành District, the airport covers an area of 5,000 hectares, funded by the Southern Airports Corporation.

As planned, it will have two runways built by 2020. It plans to have three runways by 2030 and more afterwards.

The project will be carried out in three phases, of which the first phase lasting to 2020 costs VND 6,744.7 million.

Construction is expected to begin in 2015 and the first phase will be put into operation five years later.