Low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific Airlines (JPA) has proposedpurchasing the operational rights to the old terminal of Da Nanginternational airport, the third busiest airport in Vietnam.

DaNang airport in the central city of Da Nang is one of several domesticairports earmarked by the transport ministry for the transfer ofoperational rights to raise funds that will be used for modernisingother airports and building new ones.

The other airports are theT1 terminal of Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Phu Quocinternational airport in the southern province of Kien Giang and CamRanh airport in the southern central province of Khanh Hoa.

Inorder to get the operational rights for the Da Nang airport terminal,JPA may have to compete with a joint venture of three domesticinvestors: Thang Long Air Services Corporation, AOV Investment JointStock Company and Hanoi Construction Corporation.

The jointventure has proposed that the transport ministry should build a newterminal at Da Nang airport, with an annual capacity of 4 millionpassengers, under a Build-Operate-Transfer model. However, their planhas not yet been approved, and it could not be verified whether theirproject covers the old terminal chosen by JPA.

Earlier, the T&T Group requested the transport ministry to allow it to buy Phu Quoc International Airport.

Thegroup is the first to ask the ministry to approve its investment in theairport after Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang asked the AirportsCorporation of Vietnam to prepare a pilot plan to sell a 100 percentstake in Phu Quoc Airport during a meeting held in Hanoi last month.

Meanwhile,both national carrier Vietnam Airlines and private carrier VietJet Airasked the ministry to transfer to them the operational rights to the T1terminal of Noi Bai International Airport. Terminal T1, spanning 115,000square metres, is capable of serving nine million passengers per yearthrough 19 boarding gates.-VNA