Vietnam’s biggest-ever infrastructure project starts commercial flights on 1 December 2026. For European and Russian arrivals almost nothing changes on day one — and almost everything changes with the summer 2027 schedule. Here is the agent’s version, checked on 1 September 2026.
Long Thanh Airport Opens 1 Dec: What Changes for Agents
Forty kilometres east of District 1, in a former rubber plantation in Dong Nai province, Vietnam has spent nearly six years and roughly US$4.66 billion building a lotus. The petals are a steel roof the size of several football pitches; underneath sits a terminal designed for 25 million passengers a year, a four-kilometre runway with a second one already poured beside it, and the answer to a problem every one of our partners knows well: Tan Son Nhat, Saigon’s existing airport, is a 1930s airfield doing a 2020s job.
Long Thanh International Airport runs three months of trial operations from September, and the Airports Corporation of Vietnam has set 1 December 2026 as the day the first commercial passengers walk through. Here is what that means for you — and, more importantly, what it does not mean yet.
The 30-second version
- 1 December 2026: commercial operations begin, but with a handful of Vietnam Airlines routes to China, Hong Kong and Manila plus domestic flights. Your clients from Frankfurt, Paris, London or Moscow still land at Tan Son Nhat unless their airline chooses to move early.
- 28 March 2027, the first day of the summer schedule, is the date to diary: the plan moves all long-haul flights — Europe, the Middle East, Russia, the Americas, Australia — to Long Thanh.
- End of October 2027: nearly all international flights at Long Thanh; Tan Son Nhat keeps domestic and short regional routes.
- Two airports, 45 to 50 km apart. From summer 2027 a Europe arrival with a domestic connection may mean changing airports. Build in time — or build in a Saigon night.
- Transfer to District 1: budget 60 to 90 minutes today, longer at peak. The widened expressway is meant to cut that sharply by 2027.
- Good news for beach programmes: Long Thanh sits on the Vung Tau, Ho Tram and Mui Ne side of the city.
1. What actually opens on 1 December
Less than the headlines suggest, and deliberately so. Under the airport operator’s opening plan, Vietnam Airlines starts Long Thanh with four international routes — Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Manila — plus a domestic link to Hanoi. Vietjet begins with domestic flights to Hanoi, Hai Phong, Vinh and Thanh Hoa. Other airlines are encouraged to move international services early and are offered discounts of 20 to 50 percent on airport charges through 2027 to sweeten the deal, but nobody is forced across the road until the next phase.
Two practical consequences for the winter 2026–27 season:
- Check the airport on every ticket dated 1 December or later. A client whose airline has moved early will land 40 km from where your transfer is waiting. Under the plan, no new international routes will be approved at Tan Son Nhat once Long Thanh opens, so the drift will only go one way.
- Domestic connections are unaffected for now. Flights to Phu Quoc, Da Nang, Nha Trang and Hanoi continue from Tan Son Nhat, where Terminal 3 has handled domestic traffic for Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet since 2025.
2. The three-phase timetable
The operator’s plan, as reported by Vietnam’s state media in July 2026, works in three steps. Treat the dates as the plan of record and check them again when the summer 2027 schedules load into your GDS — big airports have a habit of moving dates in both directions.
| Phase | Dates | What moves to Long Thanh | What stays at Tan Son Nhat |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 — Soft opening | 1 December 2026 to 27 March 2027 | Vietnam Airlines to Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Manila and Hanoi; Vietjet domestic to Hanoi, Hai Phong, Vinh, Thanh Hoa; any airline choosing to move early | Everything else, including all Europe, Gulf, Istanbul and Moscow flights |
| 2 — Summer schedule | From 28 March 2027 | All long-haul international: Europe, the Americas, Oceania, Africa, the Middle East, South and Central Asia | Domestic flights; Northeast and Southeast Asia routes |
| 3 — Winter schedule | From the end of October 2027 (the plan cites 30 October) | Nearly all international flights | Domestic flights and routes under about 1,000 km flown by Vietnamese carriers |
The logic is tidy: Tan Son Nhat becomes Saigon’s domestic and regional airport, Long Thanh its gateway to the world. The teething period is phase 2, when your client’s Emirates flight from Dubai lands at one airport and their Vietnam Airlines flight to Phu Quoc leaves from the other.
3. Which of your clients’ flights move — and when
As of the September 2026 schedules, these are the long-haul routes touching Ho Chi Minh City that fall into phase 2. Every one of them is planned to operate from Long Thanh from 28 March 2027:
| Airline | Route to Ho Chi Minh City | Planned Long Thanh move |
|---|---|---|
| Vietnam Airlines | Paris, Frankfurt, Munich, London Heathrow, Copenhagen | 28 March 2027 |
| Air France | Paris | 28 March 2027 |
| Turkish Airlines | Istanbul | 28 March 2027 |
| Emirates | Dubai | 28 March 2027 |
| Qatar Airways | Doha | 28 March 2027 |
| Aeroflot | Moscow Sheremetyevo (twice weekly) | 28 March 2027 |
Note what is not on the list. The Russian charter and scheduled flights that carry most of the market land at Cam Ranh, Da Nang and Phu Quoc, not Saigon — so the programmes in Selling Vietnam to Russian clients are untouched. And clients connecting via Bangkok, Singapore or Kuala Lumpur keep landing at Tan Son Nhat until the end of October 2027, which is the one scenario where a “via Bangkok” ticket becomes operationally simpler than a non-stop.
For the full picture of who flies where, our guide to airlines from Europe and Russia to Vietnam is being updated for 2027.
4. The connection question: two airports, 45 kilometres
This is the part worth reading twice. From 28 March 2027, a client arriving from Europe lands at Long Thanh. Most domestic flights, for now, leave from Tan Son Nhat. The two airports are 45 to 50 km apart by expressway — 60 to 90 minutes on a normal day, longer at the wrong time of day — and bags are not checked through between them.
The airlines know this. Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet have registered domestic routes from Long Thanh precisely so that long-haul arrivals can connect onward, and the operator has said schedule connectivity is the airport’s make-or-break issue. But the launch list is short and northern: Hanoi, Hai Phong, Vinh, Thanh Hoa. Direct Long Thanh flights to Phu Quoc, Da Nang or Nha Trang are not confirmed at the time of writing.
Our advice for summer 2027 bookings, in order of preference:
- Book the domestic leg on the same ticket and let the airline own the connection. If Vietnam Airlines offers Frankfurt – Long Thanh – Da Nang as one booking, take it.
- If the connection means changing airports, allow at least four hours — and book a private transfer that meets the client at the door. This is exactly what a DMC’s meet-and-greet is for.
- Better still, sell the Saigon night. A city that most Europeans currently rush through deserves an evening: rooftop bar, street food, the Cu Chi tunnels next morning, then the domestic flight at a civilised hour. We make the case in why Ho Chi Minh City is the perfect gateway.
The same logic applies in reverse on departure day: a domestic flight into Tan Son Nhat followed by a European departure from Long Thanh needs either a same-ticket connection or a generous gap.
5. Getting to town: honest transfer times
Long Thanh is about 40 km east of District 1 as the crow flies, more by road. Today the drive takes a little over an hour without traffic and can stretch well beyond two at the worst times — the deputy minister in charge admitted in May 2026 that the current run can take two to three hours in heavy congestion, and set a target of about 30 minutes by 2027.
That target rests on three projects at different stages of completion: the widening of the Ho Chi Minh City – Long Thanh – Dau Giay expressway from four lanes to eight or ten (most sections due by the end of 2026, the Long Thanh bridge section in the second quarter of 2027); Ring Road 3 around the city, opening in stages; and the Ben Luc – Long Thanh expressway, 99 percent complete in August with full opening scheduled for September 2026, which links the airport straight to the Mekong side of the city without touching the centre. A 42-km metro line from Thu Thiem to the airport is planned, but on a 2030s timeline — nobody should promise a client a train.
What we are telling partners for the 2027 season: budget 60 to 90 minutes airport to hotel in the centre, plan arrival-day programmes loosely, and treat any transfer under an hour as a pleasant surprise. Pricing is inter-city rather than a hop across town, so update your tariffs — ask us for ours. The city’s traffic, incidentally, has its own charm once you stop fighting it; our piece on why the chaos is the best part explains.
6. The upside: Long Thanh is on the beach side of the city
Here is the part the headlines miss. Tan Son Nhat sits in the north-west of Saigon; Long Thanh sits to the east, on the way to the coast. For several products you sell, the new airport is a shortcut:
- Vung Tau and Ho Tram: with the Bien Hoa – Vung Tau expressway now carrying traffic — it has its own exit for the airport — the resorts of Ho Tram and the beaches of Vung Tau are roughly an hour to an hour and a quarter from Long Thanh: the makings of a genuine arrival-day beach night. Both now sit inside Ho Chi Minh City’s enlarged boundaries, as our guide to Vietnam’s new map explains. From Vung Tau, the fast ferry to Con Dao, sea state permitting, is a scenic alternative to flying.
- Mui Ne and Phan Thiet: the expressways towards Phan Thiet start practically at the airport gate. Expect to shave up to an hour off the transfer compared with Tan Son Nhat — a quiet revolution for the Russian-speaking beach market that has loved Mui Ne for two decades.
- The Mekong Delta: via the Ben Luc – Long Thanh expressway, a group can head straight to My Tho and the delta without entering the city, then finish in Saigon at the end of the programme.
- MICE and incentives: an international gateway with a 25-million-passenger terminal, resort capacity at Ho Tram and the city an hour away is a combination Southeast Asia’s corporate planners will notice quickly.
Read the hidden gems of southern Vietnam with the new geography in mind and several of them become day-one options.
7. Five things to know about the airport itself
- It is Vietnam’s largest infrastructure project ever: about US$4.66 billion for phase one and a projected US$18.7 billion when all phases are complete.
- Phase one is built for 25 million passengers and 1.2 million tonnes of cargo a year; the long-term masterplan reaches around 100 million passengers.
- The runway is 4,000 metres long — long enough for anything that flies — and the second runway was substantially complete by July 2026.
- The roof is a lotus. Vietnam’s national flower, rendered in steel, is the first thing clients will photograph.
- Tan Son Nhat is not closing. It becomes the domestic and regional airport, which for most itineraries is the one clients see more often.
8. Your to-do list
- Now: check the arrival airport on every Ho Chi Minh City ticket dated 1 December 2026 onwards, and send us the flight details so the right driver is at the right door.
- Now: diary 28 March 2027 and the end of October 2027 as schedule-change dates for Saigon.
- Now: whichever airport they land at, clients need the free pre-arrival QR declaration — our entry rules cheat sheet has the three-minute version.
- For summer 2027 sales: brief clients that Saigon has two airports and which one they use; avoid self-connections under four hours between them; consider the Saigon night.
- For brochures: “Ho Chi Minh City (Long Thanh)” for long-haul arrivals from summer 2027; keep the airport code question open until your GDS shows it.
- For budgets: replace city-transfer rates with airport-to-city rates for Long Thanh and add an inter-airport transfer line.
We will update this page after the trial operations and again when the summer 2027 schedules are published. If you are planning group programmes for 2027 with a Saigon start or finish, talk to us early — this is the year the Saigon leg needs an extra look.
Frequently asked questions
When does Long Thanh airport open?
Commercial operations are planned to start on 1 December 2026, after trial operations from September to November 2026. The first commercial routes are Vietnam Airlines services to Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Manila plus domestic flights by Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet.
Will flights from Europe use Long Thanh?
Under the current plan, all long-haul international flights — including Europe, the Middle East and Russia — move to Long Thanh from the summer 2027 schedule starting 28 March 2027. Until then they continue at Tan Son Nhat unless an airline chooses to move early.
How far is Long Thanh from Ho Chi Minh City?
About 40 km east of the city centre in Dong Nai province. Allow 60 to 90 minutes by road today; the expressway is being widened to cut journey times in 2027.
Can clients connect from a Europe flight to a domestic flight?
Yes, but from summer 2027 most domestic flights still leave from Tan Son Nhat. Book the domestic leg on the same ticket where possible, or allow at least four hours and a private inter-airport transfer.
Is Tan Son Nhat closing?
No. It remains Saigon’s domestic and regional airport, with international routes within Southeast and Northeast Asia staying there until at least the end of October 2027.
