Long Thanh Airport Hits 80% Completion as ACV Pressed on $16B Schedule

Overview

Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc inspected the $16 billion Long Thanh International Airport on 4 October 2026 and instructed that the construction schedule must not slip, with the Ministry of Construction reporting that overall volume has reached nearly 80%. The project’s third component is sponsored by Tổng công ty Cảng hàng không Việt Nam (ACV), the UPCOM-listed airport operator, making the remaining terminal and cargo packages the key execution risk for the ticker.

Key Facts

• Long Thanh International Airport carries a total investment of roughly USD 16 billion and is classified as a national priority infrastructure project.
• Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Tuc conducted the site inspection on 4 October 2026 across Hồ Chí Minh City and Đồng Nai province.
• Deputy Minister of Construction Pham Minh Hà reported that cumulative construction volume has reached nearly 80%, with many packages and work items essentially complete.
• Component 3, led by ACV as investor, has multiple packages finished or proceeding on plan.
• Packages still carrying large outstanding workloads include the passenger terminal, internal port transport and technical infrastructure, the cargo terminal, and the car park.
• The Ministry of Construction flagged difficulties in labour mobilisation, material supply, equipment installation, documentation completion and payment.
• ACV shares closed at 39 on 5 October 2026, unchanged on the session, with volume of 79,100 shares on UPCOM.

What Happened

According to the Ministry of Construction’s report at the working session, the state management agency buildings and air traffic management items are broadly tracking the schedule needed for airport operations. For component 3, where ACV is the investor, several packages have been completed or are being implemented as planned. Deputy Minister Pham Minh Hà nonetheless identified the passenger terminal, internal port transport and technical infrastructure, cargo terminal and car park as areas where substantial work remains and where resources must be concentrated.

The ministry cited labour mobilisation, material supply, equipment installation, dossier completion and payment as the current bottlenecks, and asked ACV to review all remaining work, identify the specific blockages and assign responsibility for resolving them. Contractors were instructed to reinforce resources on items capable of affecting the overall timeline. The Deputy Prime Minister also reviewed connecting transport projects, noting that expressway links such as Biên Hòa - Vũng Tàu and Bến Lức - Long Thành are progressively taking shape.

Market Context

ACV trades on UPCOM, Vietnam’s unlisted public company market, and closed at 39 with zero change on 5 October 2026 on light volume of 79,100 shares. The muted price reaction reflects the fact that the inspection was a supervisory and schedule-enforcement event rather than a new capital allocation or contract award. Long Thanh sits within Vietnam’s broader infrastructure and logistics build-out, where airport, expressway and port spending is a core plank of the public investment pipeline intended to sustain construction-sector earnings through the current cycle.

Strategic Significance

For long-term holders, ACV’s thesis rests on Long Thanh becoming the primary international gateway serving the southeast region and eventually relieving pressure on Tân Sơn Nhất. The value case depends less on construction milestones than on the timing of commercial operation, because ACV’s revenue scales with passenger and cargo throughput once the terminal opens. The explicit instruction against schedule slippage, combined with the ministry’s identification of payment and documentation bottlenecks, signals that state oversight is focused on the critical path items that determine the opening date. The competitive dynamic is domestic: Long Thanh’s ramp-up will reshape route allocation across Vietnam’s airport network, and ACV’s position as investor in component 3 gives it direct exposure to that shift.

What to Watch

• Monthly or quarterly progress disclosures from ACV on the passenger terminal, cargo terminal and internal transport packages.
• Ministry of Construction statements on whether the 80% completion figure advances on schedule through the fourth quarter of 2026.
• Resolution of the payment and documentation bottlenecks cited by the ministry, which could indicate contractor cash-flow pressure.
• Progress on the Biên Hòa - Vũng Tàu and Bến Lức - Long Thành expressway links that feed airport connectivity.
• Any formal announcement of a target date for the first commercial flight or trial operations.