Lien Khuong International Airport (IATA: DLI, ICAO: VVDL) is an airport located in Đức Trọng district, about 30 km (19 mi) south of Da Lat, Lâm Đồng province. It is the largest of four airports in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam. The major reconstruction in order to handle bigger aircraft was completed in December 2009. This airport handled 1,690,000 passengers in 2019, an increase of 18.3% against that of 2014.[2]
Lien Khuong International Airport Sân bay quốc tế Liên Khương Cảng hàng không quốc tế Liên Khương | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Owner/Operator | Airports Corporation of Vietnam | ||||||||||
| Serves | Da Lat | ||||||||||
| Location | Đức Trọng, Lâm Đồng, Vietnam | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 962 m / 3,156 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 11°45′02″N 108°22′25″E / 11.75056°N 108.37361°E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  DLI/VVDL Location of airport in Vietnam | |||||||||||
 | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Statistics (2019) | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
History
editLien Khuong International Airport (originally Lien Khang) was built by the French colonists in 1933 with a 700-meter-long soil runway.
From 1956 to 1960 the American army reconstructed and upgraded Lien Khuong Airport with rather completed facilities is not the infrastructure is quite complete.[clarification needed] The terminal was designed in French architecture, with three stories. The terminal had a capacity of 50,000 passengers per year, or about 120 passengers/peak hour.[3]
In 1957 there was a commercial flight five days a week from Saigon to Dalat, operated by Air Vietnam utilising a Douglas DC-3. The flight continued from Dalat to Banmethuot and then other cities before reversing its route. By 1962 the frequency had increased to two flights per day. By 1969 the DC-3 planes had been replaced by DC-4s and an additional flight per day was added to the schedule. By 1972 the frequency was reduced to one flight per day, utilising DC-3s and DC-4s.
During 1964–1972, the runway, apron, packing, and access roads went through improvement and reinforcement, the runway was refaced with asphalt from 8–10 cm in depth. As a result of this improvement, the runway was extended to 1,480 m long and 37 m wide, the apron was 23,100 square meters, the apron was 2,106 square meters, and the access road was 2,100 meters long. From the unification of Vietnam on 30 April 1975 until 1980, this airport was controlled and operated by the Vietnam People's Army. The airport mainly served high ranking governmental leaders on business and taking residents from northern Vietnam to Lâm Đồng in the so-called "New Economic Movement".[3]
From 1981 to 1985 Lien Khuong Airport served civil service flights with Ho Chi Minh City - Lien Khuong route (one flight weekly) on Yak-40 aircraft, but all civil flights was suspended due to low passenger traffic.
Since 1992 Lien Khuong Airport resumed its civil services with Ho Chi Minh - Lien Khuong, and Huế – Lien Khuong on Yak-40, later replaced by ATR 72. The Huế – Lieng Khuong route was later suspended.
Since October 2004, this airport has served more air links with Hanoi's Noi Bai International Airport with Fokker 70 aircraft. As of December 2009, there were two daily flights to Ho Chi Minh City, and one flight daily to Hanoi.[3]
Military activity
editAeroflot Russia ran connection flights within Vietnam with Ilyushin Il-86 aircraft during 1981–89. It is suspected that the Soviet VVS Air Force carried out operations from Lien Khuong after the fall of Saigon in April 1975. Russia disbanded two of three defensive VVS interceptor squadrons consisting of Su-27, MiG-25, and 13 Yak-50 within Da lat in the summer of 1999. The fate of the retired aircraft is unknown. Possible transfer to People's Army of Vietnam PAVN and/or People's Air Defense Force of Vietnam PADFV to Hanoi.
Services
editThe new 12,400-square-meter passenger terminal was inaugurated on December 26, 2009.
The new two-floor terminal was expected to enable the Lien Khuong Airport to serve international flights in the region in 2010.
The terminal is capable of receiving 1.5-2 million passengers per year.[4]
Airlines and destinations
editStatistics
edit| Rank | Destinations | Frequency (weekly) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hanoi | 63 |
| 2 | Ho Chi Minh City | 56 |
| 3 | Da Nang | 7 |
| 4 | Vinh | 7 |
| 5 | Hue | 3 |
| 6 | Hai Phong | 6 |
| 7 | Bangkok | 7 |
| 8 | Seoul-Incheon | 6 |
| 9 | Can Tho | 4 |
| 10 | Kuala Lumpur | 4 |
| 11 | Lanzhou | 2 |
| Year | Number of passengers |
|---|---|
| 2008 | |
| 2009 | |
| 2010 | |
| 2011 | |
| 2012 | |
| 2013 | |
| 2014 | 675,995 |
| 2015 | 862,164 |
| 2016 | 1,300,000 |
| 2017 | 1,600,000 |
| 2018 | 1,750,000 |
| 2019 | 2,340,000 |
Ground transport
editA shuttle van to Da Lat is available for 40,000 dong; tickets are available near baggage collection, howbutever seats quickly fill up. A taxi is around 250,000 dong (15 US dollars).
Accidents and incidents
edit- On 29 December 1973, Douglas C-53D EM-3 of Air America overran the runway on landing. The aircraft was substantially damaged and was not salvaged due to the presence of land mines in the area. It was operating a non-scheduled passenger flight. All nine people on board survived.[22]
See also
edit
References
edit- ^ "Kết quả sản xuất kinh doanh của ACV: Năm 2015 sản lượng hành khách thông qua cảng đạt trên 63 triệu lượt, tăng 24,2% so với năm 2014". ACV. 2016-01-19. Archived from the original on 2016-01-28.
- ^ "Kết quả sản xuất kinh doanh của ACV: Năm 2015 sản lượng hành khách thông qua cảng đạt trên 63 triệu lượt, tăng 24,2% so với năm 2014" (in Vietnamese). ACV. 2016-01-19. Archived from the original on 2016-01-28.
- ^ a b c "GIỚI THIỆU CHUNG VỀ CẢNG HÀNG KHÔNG LIÊN KHƯƠNG". Southern Airports Corporation. 2006-06-09. Archived from the original on 2017-06-30. Retrieved 2009-12-30.
- ^ "New terminal opens in Central Highlands airport". VietnamNet. 2009-12-29. Archived from the original on 2009-12-31.
- ^ "AIRASIA RESUMES KUALA LUMPUR – DA LAT ROUTE IN NW24". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 7 August 2024.
- ^ "Asiana Airlines NW23 Southeast Asia Network Additions". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 16 October 2023.
- ^ "Từ ngày 05 tháng 8 năm 2020, Bamboo Airways mở thêm 4 đường bay kết nối Cần Thơ". CAAV (in Vietnamese). 4 August 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2020.
- ^ "Hãng hàng không Việt mở mới nhiều đường bay đến Đà Nẵng".
- ^ "> Routesonline. 6 March 2019.
- ^ "제주항공, 인천~달랏 신규취항… 베트남 노선 국적사 중 최다" [Jeju Air, launching Incheon~Da LAt…operate largest Vietnam route in Korean carriers] (in Korean). Chosun Biz. 3 November 2023.
- ^ "Korean Air adds da Lat service from June 2019 :: Routesonline". Archived from the original on 2019-06-07. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
- ^ "Thai VietJet Air to Resume Da Lat Service in Dec 2022". Aeroroutes. 17 November 2022.
- ^ "VietJet Air Expands Da Lat – South Korea Service in NS23". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
- ^ "VietJet Air expands Can Tho network from late-April 2019".
- ^ "Vietjet Air Adds New Domestic Routes from May 2016". airlineroute. Retrieved 28 April 2016.
- ^ "VietJetAir mở đường bay TPHCM-Đà Lạt". Thời báo Kinh tế Sài Gòn Online. 2014-02-27. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2014-03-04.
- ^ Liu, Jim (6 December 2019). "VietJet Air further expands Seoul service in Jan 2020". routesonline. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ a b "Vietnam Airlines tiếp tục mở 5 đường bay nội địa mới". Vietnam Airlines (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 3 July 2020.
- ^ "Vietnam Airlines sắp mở 6 đường bay mới". Vietnambiz (in Vietnamese). June 2020. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ "Vietnam Airlines chốt lịch bay trở lại chặng Đà Lạt - Đà Nẵng". Mekong ASEAN.
- ^ "Vietnam Airlines khai trương hai đường bay mới nhân dịp ngày sinh Chủ tịch Hồ Chí Minh". Vietnam Airlines (in Vietnamese). Retrieved 1 June 2020.
- ^ "Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 26 August 2010.
External links
edit