Online Travel Vietnam: Two years after being upgraded from a domestic airport, Cam Ranh International Airport, in the central province of Khanh Hoa, has failed to fulfill four crucial standardized criteria for an international airport.
Luong Van Thanh, the facility's director, admitted to Tuoi Tre that Cam Ranh airport could only be called "international" under Vietnamese standards.
"Under the International Civil Aviation Organization's standards, we have a lot of work to do," he said.
Thanh said the airport has no fresh water supply, despite a demand of around 100 cubic meters a day.
"In 2005 the provincial authority decided to build a fresh water plant in Cam Lam District to supply the airport," he said.
"But the project has yet to be implemented thanks to a shortage of capital."
At present, the airport has to use a pipeline network to carry seawater to mix with the well-water, which is contaminated with oil, for temporary use.
Moreover, the airport does not have trucks specialized in pumping fresh water for the aircraft, as requested by the international air carriers.
To temporarily deal with the problem, the airport's management board has planned to lease trucks to carry fresh water from Nha Trang city to supply the airplanes.
Even more alarming is the fact that Cam Ranh airport lacks fire-trucks capable of fighting a blaze on a large aircraft.
This is a serious problem, since companies want to send large planes to the airport.
Hoang Thi Phong Thu, chairwoman and CEO of Anh Duong Co, said the company is cooperating with Russian businesses to send two charter flights from Russia to Cam Ranh on a daily basis.
"We have to deploy large aircraft such as the Boeing 777 to fly Russian tourists to Vietnam, but the Cam Ranh airport is not capable of receiving us due to their sub-standard fire safety equipment," Thu said.
Thanh said it will not be until the end of next year, when the airport gets a powerful new fire-truck, that the airport will be able to receive larger aircraft.
No fixed international air route
Cam Ranh's most severe deficiency is the lack of a fixed international route.
Over the last two years, the airport has only managed to receive a few charter flights from two Russian carriers -- Vladivostok Air and Oren Air -- which brought Russian tourists to Cam Ranh during the winter holidays.
Last year South Korea's national carrier, Korean Air, also offered about a dozen charter flights to Cam Ranh so that tourists could enjoy their summer vacation in Nha Trang.
Most of the time, the airport only receives domestic flights connecting Cam Ranh to Hanoi, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City.
Moreover, Cam Ranh airport currently has only one three-kilometer runway, whose surface is now heavily cracked.
"It is impossible for a 50-year-old runway which has to receive around 20 flights a day to not deteriorate," Thanh said.
"After each flight, we have to send technicians to check if there are any gaps on the surface to provide a timely fix."
Thanh said the provincial government and the Ministry of Transport are still unable to afford the VND2-trillion investment for building a second runway for the airport.
Compounding these problems is the fact that Cam Ranh international, unlike what its name implies, does not have any money exchangers.
"It took me by great surprise to learn that there is no money exchanger in an international airport like Cam Ranh," Natalia, a Russian tourist, told Tuoi Tre.
In response, Thanh said the airport did not set up a money exchanger since it would likely fail to cover expenses.
"There are not many foreign tourists and not all of them require a foreign currency exchange," he explained.
Source: tuoitrenews
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