Binh Dinh (VNA) - Phu Cat airport in Quy Nhon city, the south centralprovince of Binh Dinh, is scheduled to welcome the first international flightby the end of December this year.

The information was announced by Chairman of the provincial People’s CommitteeHo Quoc Dung at a working session with agencies and domestic carriers on November21.

Representative of the Vietnam Airport Corporation said the old terminal of PhuCat airport had been repaired and converted into an international terminal(T2), with an area of about 3,000sq.m, including two floors with a capacity of600,000 passengers a year.

The repairs and preparations are almost complete.

Under the plan, T2 terminal will be put into trial operation on December 5 andwill be fully operational on December 15. It will then welcome the firstinternational flight to the airport.

Tran Van Trien, Director of Phu Cat airport, said there were four domesticcarriers including Vietnam Airlines; VietJet Air; Jetstar Pacific Airlines andBamboo Airways operating 30-40 flights per day to and from the city.

In the first ten months of 2019, the airport served nearly 1.36 milliontourists. In 2018, it welcomed 1.12 million tourists.

At the meeting, Truong Phuong Thanh, Deputy General Director of Bamboo Airways,said the number of tourists from the Republic of Korea, Japan and China visitingQuy Nhon city increased day by day.

Bamboo Airways has worked with these partners and agreed to open direct flightsto Binh Dinh province.

It is expected that by the end of December, Bamboo Airways will have the firstinternational flight from Incheon, the RoK to Phu Cat airport and vice versa.

A representative of Vietnam Airlines said the airline expects to open the firstinternational flight to the airport in March 2020.

Chairman Dung said the number of tourists coming to Binh Dinh has increased by15-20 percent in recent years.

In 2018, the province welcomed more than four million tourists. Of which, over290,000 are international tourists.

In the first nine months this year, it welcomed over 4.12 million tourists,including 310,730 foreigners, an increase of nearly 20 percent over the sameperiod last year.

In 2020, the province is expected to attract 5.5 million tourists.

Chairman assigned agencies and carriers to complete the procedures and licencesto open international flights to the airport.

Phu Cat airport has also signed a regulation on coordination with border policeforce, customs and health departments in operating and controllinginternational flights./.