On that day, travellers headed to Japan, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan or other international destinations will see first-hand what all the time, money, and effort that has gone into constructing the ambitious project has produced.

In an interview with the Vietnam News Agency, Le Khac Hong, general director of the Airport, said the new terminal is ready to start undergoing a phase of Operational Readiness & Airport Transfer, commonly known as ORAT.

It is a period of intensive system testing and trials to ensure that the work flows and processes at the new terminal have been thoroughly thought through and tested robustly, he noted.

This phase will include the installation and testing of key airport systems such as self-check-in kiosks, self-bag-drop machines, baggage handling system, as well as the preparation of commercial spaces.

If everything goes as hoped, new flights will begin taking off sometime in the second week of May 2017.

At nearly 48,000 square metres, the new international terminal will, on opening, instantly more than double the size of the third largest airport in the Southeast Asian country.

It will include new aircraft gates, offer streamlined customs and connections services and feature the very latest in security screening and boarding processes capable of handling four million passengers per annum.

VOV