Dong Hoi Airport - History

History

The site of the airport was formerly an unpaved airstrip built by the French colonists and used from 1930 to 1954 to launch air raids against Viet Minh forces in the Central of Vietnam and Laotian communist forces Pathet Lao in the Central and Southern Laos during First Indochina War.

In Vietnam War, the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam consolidated the runway surface of the airfield. This airstrip was used by North Vietnam as a transit point for air transport of personnel or cargo to the battlefields in the South Vietnam, especially those along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

However, during Vietnam War, this airstrip was not the base for North Vietnamese air attack on the United States battleships on South China Sea in an air raid known as Battle of Dong Hoi. The North Vietnamese fighters took off from Khe Gat Airfield near Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park instead.

This airstrip was the site Ho Chi Minh landed for his North Vietnamese southernmost visit ever to Quang Binh during Vietnam War, he landed here at 8:30 am June 16, 1957 and took off back to Hanoi at 5 pm June 17, 1957. It was also the site then North Vietnamese prime minister Pham Van Dong and Cuban president Fidel Castro landed for a visit to the then newly-occupied zone by North Vietnam of Quang Tri in 1972. General Van Tien Dung landed here before entering South Vietnam for direct command of communist forces in the last period of Vietnam War renowned as Ho Chi Minh Campaign in 1975.

After the fall of Saigon, this airfield was controlled by the Vietnam People's Army but used it for military and flood rescue activities on an irregular basis, and the airfield was actually almost abandoned.

In 2003, Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites list. The park contains systems of grottoes and caves, of which Vietnamese and British scientists have so far surveyed 20 with a total length of 70 km. Besides caves and grottoes, Phong Nha has the longest underground rivers, the largest caverns and passageways, the widest and prettiest sand banks, and the most astonishing rock formations in the world. Moreover, Phong Nha-Ke Bang is rich in biodiversity. At the final conference of the National Council for Cultural Heritage held in Vietnam in 2007, scientists attending the meeting highly praised the scientific documentation of Phong Nha-Ke Bang park. Accordingly, the park is second to no other national parks listed in UNESCO’s world heritage sites as far as biodiversity is concerned. Since Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was listed in UNESCO's World Heritage Sites, the number of tourists to this park increased significantly, which required air links between this province with other major cities of Vietnam, namely Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The construction of Dong Hoi Airport was started on August 30, 2004 and was scheduled to be completed by the last quarter of 2007. The estimated cost to build the airport is $15 million which was invested by the Northern Aviation Authority of Vietnam, an entity under the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam. The construction schedule of the airport was behind the schedule due to lack of capital from the government. It was scheduled to be completed in February 2008, but there were some pending items (10% of the total work), the deadline was extended. According to the next revised schedule, this airport would be completed and opened in 3rd quarter of 2008. Construction of the facilities achieved completion in May 2008. The Prime Minister of Vietnam signed a decision dated May 15, 2008 to put this airport into operation on May 18, 2008. The first commercial flight originated from Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport landed at this airport on May 18, 2008, the official inaugural date of the airport.