משתמש:Shalom Yechiel/נמל התעופה דונג הוי

נמל התעופה דונג הוי (בלשון וייטנאם: Cảng hàng không Đồng Hới או Sân bay Đồng Hới) is an) הינו נמל תעופה בכפר לוק נינה, 6 ק"מ מצפון לעיר דונג הוי, שהיא בירת מחוז [[קואנג בינה, כ-500 ק"מ דרום-מזרח מהנוי דרך כבישים. מסלול ההמראה נבנה תחילה ללא בטון על ידי גורמים צרפתיים בשנות ה-1930 כדי לסייע במלחמת הודו וסין הראשונה. לוחמי צפון וייטנאם שיפרו את המסלול כדי להיעזר בו כבסיס במלחמת וייטנאם.

On 30 August 2004, the renovation (actually reconstruction) of this airport began and was scheduled to be completed in 2006  but not until May 2008 was it inaugurated. On May 18 2008, the airport was officially put into operation with the first commercial flight from Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport.

History

The site of the airport was formerly a unpaved airstrip built by the French colonists and used from 1930 to 1954 to launch air raids against Viet Minh forces in the Central of Vietnam and Laotian communist forces Pathet Lao in the Central and Southern Laos during First Indochina War.

In Vietnam War, the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam consolidated the runway surface of the airfield. This airstrip was used by North Vietnam as a transit point for air transport of personnel or cargo to the battlefields in the South Vietnam, especially thoses along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

This airstrip was the site Ho Chi Minh landed for his North Vietnamese southernmost visit ever to Quang Binh during Vietnam War, he landed here at 8:30 am June 16, 1957 and took off back to Hanoi at 5 pm June 17, 1957. It was also the site then North Vietnamese prime minister Pham Van Dong and Cuban president Fidel Castro landed for a visit to the then newly-occupied zone by North Vietnam of Quang Tri in 1972. General Van Tien Dung landed here before entering South Vietnam for direct command of communist forces in the last period of Vietnam War knowned as Ho Chi Minh Campaign in 1975.

After the fall of Saigon, this airfield was controlled by the Vietnam People's Army but used it for military and flood rescue activities on an irregular basis, and the airfield was actuallly almost abandoned.

In 2003, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list. The park contains systems of grottoes and caves, of which Vietnamese and British scientists have so far surveyed 20 with a total length of 70km. Besides caves and grotoes, Phong Nha has the longest underground rivers, the largest caverns and passageways, the widest and prettiest sand banks, and the most astonishing rock formations in the world. Moverover, Phong Nha-Ke Bang is rich in biodiversity. At the final conference of the National Council for Cultural Heritage held in Vietnam in 2007, scientists attending the meeting highly praised the scientific documentation of Phong Nha-Ke Bang park. Accordingly, the park is second to no other national parks listed in UNESCO’s world heritage sites as far as biodiversity is concerned. Since Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, the number of tourists to this park increased significantly, which required an air links between this province with other major cities of Vietnam, namely Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The construction of Dong Hoi Airport was started August 30, 2004 and was scheduled to be completed by the last quarter of 2007. The estimated cost to build the airport is $15 million which was invested by the Northern Aviation Authority of Vietnam, an entity under the Civil Aviation Bureau of Vietnam. The consrtuction schedule of the airport was behind the schedule due to lack of capital from the government. It was scheduled to be completed in February 2008, but there were some pending items (10% of the total work), the deadline was extended. According to the next revised schedule, this airport would be completed and opened in 3rd quarter of 2008. Construction of the facilities achieved completion in May 2008. The Prime Minister of Vietnam signed a decision dated May 15 2008 to put this airport into operation on May 18 2008. The first commercial flight originated from Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport landed at this airport on May 18, 2008, the official inaugural date of the airport.

Facilities

Dong Hoi Airport has one concrete paved runway (2,400 m x 45 m), ranked 4D according to ICAO, a two-story 4282-square-meter-terminal, 15,000-square-kilometer apron for 2 Airbus A320 and Airbus A321s or equivalent, an air traffic control tower and six check-in counters and security equipment. The airport is capable of handling medium range aircraft like Airbus A320, A321 or equivalent. Expansion plan has been approved by the government of Vietnam to make this airport capable to serve jumbo jets like Boeing 767.

This airport has a designed capability of 300 passengers/peak hour or 500,000 passengers per annum.

Airlines and destinations

Current destinations

The airport serves Dong Hoi city, It will serve mainly tourists to beautiful beaches in Dong Hoi city and World Natural Heritage of Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park, the starting point of The Middle World Heritage Road. As of August 2007, Vietnam Airlines is providing non-stop flights linking this airport with Noi Bai (Ha Noi). Other destination which will be linked soon includes Tan Son Nhat (Ho Chi Minh city). )

• Vietnam Airlines - Noi Bai International Airport Hanoi.

Future destinations

Depending the actual demands, Vietnam Airlines will open flights linking this airport with Cat Bi airport (Hai Phong), Cam Ranh airport (Nha Trang) and the World Cultural Heritage of Luang Prabang (Laos) and Chiangmai (Thailand).

See also

• List of airports in Vietnam

External links

• Construction begins on new Quang Binh airport Viet Nam News, September 1, 2004
• Airport & Ground Support Equipment (AGSE) in Vietnam by Le Son (11/25/2005)