Long Thanh airport has yet to handle a single commercial flight, but it already has a price list. On September 29, the Ministry of Construction issued Decision 1679/QĐ-BXD, setting the passenger service charge at Long Thanh International Airport for tickets issued from 00:00 on October 1.Dân trí International passengers will pay USD 25, which is USD 5 more than those departing from Tan Son Nhat.Tuổi Trẻ
For travellers, this is one small line among the taxes and fees on a ticket. For anyone following ACV shares, it is the first unit price locked in for a per-passenger revenue stream at a new airport about to open. Following the policy from the decision itself to its rollout, the useful question is not "how much does Long Thanh charge?" but "how much more does ACV actually collect?"
Decision 1679: two rates, one start date
The decision sets two rates, both excluding VAT: VND 90,909 for domestic passengers and USD 25 for international passengers.Dân trí The trigger is the ticket issue date, not the flight date, measured in local time where the ticket is issued.
Passengers don't pay this at the airport. According to ACV, the passenger service charge and the security charge are collected by airlines when they sell the ticket, then passed on to ACV based on each flight's passenger list.Nhân Dân If you open the fare breakdown on your ticket, it sits with the other taxes and fees added on top of the base fare.
Three airports side by side
Long Thanh's rate only means something next to the two major airports already in operation. For international departures, Long Thanh matches Noi Bai and sits USD 5 per passenger above Tan Son Nhat, a 25% difference. For domestic departures, all three airports charge the same VND 90,909.Tuổi Trẻ
At the September 28 exchange rate of VND 25,966 per dollar, the USD 5 gap comes to roughly VND 130,000 per international passenger. Against the fare for a flight to Europe or Northeast Asia, that is a small sum. Travellers will rarely get to choose their airport anyway: under the transition plan, long-haul international flights consolidate at Long Thanh from summer 2027. Your airline's schedule, not the USD 5, will decide where you take off.
Tickets already bought at Tan Son Nhat keep the old rate
The clause that matters most for anyone who has already booked sits in the transition rules. If a passenger bought a ticket departing from Tan Son Nhat and the flight is later moved to Long Thanh, the Tan Son Nhat rate at the time of issue still applies.Znews Passengers pay nothing extra if Long Thanh's rate is higher, and get nothing back if it is lower.
For international flights, this clause has real value: a ticket bought at USD 20 stays at USD 20, even if the aircraft departs from Long Thanh. For domestic flights, the two rates are identical, so the clause changes almost nothing.
Moving flights across three schedule seasons
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has agreed to ACV's proposal to open Long Thanh for commercial operations on December 1, 2026.Dân trí International flights will move in stages, following the flight schedule seasons rather than all at once.
In the first winter season, from December 1, 2026 to March 27, 2027, airlines are encouraged to move international routes, including cargo, to Long Thanh at their own pace. In summer 2027, from March 28 to October 29, all long-haul international flights move to Long Thanh. In the following winter, from October 30, 2027 to March 25, 2028, the remaining international flights follow, except short routes under 1,000 km flown by Vietnamese carriers. For domestic flights, ACV has proposed letting airlines choose between Long Thanh and Tan Son Nhat.
The plan comes with conditions. The aviation authority noted that the transition depends on infrastructure, air traffic systems and ground transport links all being completed together. As of the latest update, Long Thanh's passenger terminal was more than 77% complete and running trial operating scenarios.Dân trí
Why USD 25
USD 25 is actually below ACV's own figure. The pricing plan ACV prepared with its consultant, the Incheon Airport consortium, used a cost-based method and arrived at USD 31.78 per international passenger. ACV proposed USD 25 for the initial phase to support airlines and passengers through the move from Tan Son Nhat to Long Thanh.Znews
That makes USD 25 a compromise: higher than Tan Son Nhat, but lower than the developer's own cost estimate. Because it is explicitly an initial-phase rate, it is better read as a starting level than a long-term price. Whether and when it changes will depend on actual operating data once the airport is running.
How much more ACV really collects
This is the part that is easiest to misread. ACV manages and operates 22 airports nationwide, including both Tan Son Nhat and Long Thanh.Znews When an international passenger shifts from Tan Son Nhat to Long Thanh, ACV does not gain USD 25 in new money. The increment is USD 5, because ACV was already collecting USD 20 from that same passenger at Tan Son Nhat.
The genuinely new revenue from Long Thanh's passenger service charge therefore has two sources. The first is the USD 5 gap on each international passenger who switches airports. The second is any additional traffic Long Thanh attracts thanks to its larger capacity, with phase 1 designed for 25 million passengers a year.Znews
The real figure is likely to come in below the back-of-the-envelope math, for three reasons.
The transition clause. Passengers holding Tan Son Nhat tickets still pay USD 20 even when flying out of Long Thanh, so the gap only builds up gradually as new tickets are issued.
A timeline that runs to March 2028. In the first winter season, the number of international flights at Long Thanh depends on whether airlines choose to move voluntarily.
Incentives not yet published. The Ministry of Construction has asked ACV to announce an incentive scheme for aviation charges at Long Thanh.Dân trí Whatever discount airlines receive will feed directly into the revenue ACV actually books.
ACV shares closed at VND 39,100 on September 29, flat on the previous session. The price has not reacted to the decision, which is consistent with news that settles only the unit price while passenger numbers and incentives remain open. With those two inputs missing, this piece does not estimate the revenue or profit ACV might earn from Long Thanh.
Conclusion: read the decision through your own role
For anyone flying internationally out of southern Vietnam, USD 25 is a fixed cost that comes with whatever schedule the airline picks. The roughly VND 130,000 gap over Tan Son Nhat is not big enough to change which flight you book. If you already hold a Tan Son Nhat ticket, there is nothing to do: if your flight moves airports, the service charge stays at the old rate. Domestic travellers will barely notice a difference.
For those following ACV, the September 29 decision answers only the unit-price question. On each international passenger who switches airports, ACV's extra take is USD 5, not USD 25. The real scale of this revenue stream will be set by two numbers: actual international traffic through Long Thanh after December 1, and the terms of the incentive scheme for airlines. Once both are published, any revenue estimate will finally have something solid to stand on.