One of Vietnam’s oldest aviation gateways, Terminal 1 at Tan Son Nhat Airport, could be completely demolished and rebuilt under a proposal unveiled by the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) on July 10.
Originally built during the 1960s, Terminal 1 served as the only terminal at one of the world’s busiest airports between 1954 and 1975 and has undergone several expansions over the decades to accommodate growing passenger traffic. Under the new plan, the existing terminal will be demolished and rebuilt from the ground up, with an underground tunnel connecting it to the newly opened Terminal 3.
The Only Terminal At Tan Son Nhat Airport For Decades
Terminal 1 served as Tan Son Nhat Airport’s sole passenger terminal until the international Terminal 2 opened in 2007, followed by the domestic Terminal 3 in 2025.
The original terminal, covering 1,800 square meters, was built by the French between 1963 and 1964. As Tan Son Nhat grew into one of the world’s busiest airports between 1954 and 1975, the passenger terminal underwent four major expansions in 1956, 1960, 1963, and 1969. By 1972, its floor area had increased to 10,800 square meters, enabling it to handle up to 1.5 million passengers annually.
Over the following decades, the terminal was repeatedly expanded to keep pace with surging passenger demand. By 2023, its annual capacity had increased tenfold to 15 million passengers. Even so, Terminal 1 continued to experience chronic overcrowding, routinely handling passenger volumes well beyond its designed capacity.
Today, the terminal spans 40,948 square meters. It features 20 boarding gates along with 126 check-in counters, 30 security screening lanes, 3 outbound baggage conveyor belts, and 6 arrival baggage carousels. Since Terminal 3 opened, Terminal 1 has served only Vietjet Air’s domestic flights, accounting for roughly 20% of Tan Son Nhat Airport’s domestic passenger traffic.
Despite its many upgrades, ACV said the terminal has become visibly outdated and severely deteriorated. The facility has experienced fire incidents in the past, while its technical infrastructure has aged significantly, with persistent problems that can no longer be resolved through routine maintenance.
One of the terminal’s most pressing challenges is traffic congestion around the pick-up and drop-off area. Pedestrians crossing roadways between the departure and arrival halls and the existing parking facility not only disrupt traffic flow and the airport’s appearance but also pose significant safety risks.
For these reasons, ACV concluded that the most effective solution is to demolish Terminal 1 and rebuild it from the ground up, rather than continue with piecemeal renovations and repairs.
Underground Tunnels, VIP Terminal, And International Flights
Speaking to the media, ACV confirmed that the corporation is studying a proposal to completely rebuild Terminal 1 while also considering the construction of an underground tunnel linking it with Terminal 3.
Under the preliminary proposal, the new Terminal 1 would be rebuilt as a multi-story facility to expand passenger space and include an integrated parking and commercial complex. The terminal would initially be designed to handle 10 million passengers annually, with potential expansion to 15 million in the future. The project would add approximately 56,565 square meters of floor space, raising the passenger service area to 16 square meters per passenger during peak hours.
A key feature of the proposal is a dedicated VIP terminal that would accommodate private jets. The facility would be capable of handling either one Code E aircraft or up to five Code C aircraft, serving heads of state, corporate executives, high-profile travellers, and private aviation.
The proposal also includes an underground tunnel directly linking Terminals 1 and 3, allowing passengers to transfer seamlessly between the two domestic terminals without having to travel by road.
The new Terminal 1 would also no longer serve only domestic flights. It is also expected to accommodate international services, expanding Tan Son Nhat's international handling capacity and helping ease congestion at the already overcrowded Terminal 2.
ACV stressed that Tan Son Nhat Airport will neither cease operations nor scale down once Long Thanh International Airport becomes operational.
"On the contrary, we plan to build a new and even larger terminal. Tan Son Nhat will continue operating at a capacity of 50 million passengers a year," an ACV executive told Thanh Nien.
However, the reconstruction of Terminal 1 and the proposed tunnel remain at the feasibility study stage. The project’s scale, investment model, and implementation timeline will only be determined after the Ministry of Construction approves adjustments to the Tan Son Nhat International Airport master plan for 2021–2030, with a vision to 2050.
No decision has yet been made on demolishing the existing terminal, and no construction timeline has been announced.
If approved, the project would bring an end to more than six decades of history embodied by Terminal 1 – a building that has stood through generations of change from Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City today. Whether that history will soon give way to an entirely new terminal now depends on the government’s approval of ACV’s proposal.
