Thousands of flights may be affected by Tan Son Nhat airport upgrade Tan Son Nhat International Airport, HCM City, is planning to restrict the exploitation of runway 25R/07L to widen the runway and the parking lot from April 10 to June 25. This may affect up to thousands of flights.   According to statistics of the Airport Corporation of Vietnam (ACV), at present Tan Son Nhat Airport reaches 30-32 times of take-off and landing from 6am to 6pm everyday and up to 39 times per hour during the peak hours. If the use of the above runway is restricted, the average frequence of take-off and landing will be only 25, ie the reduction of 5-7 flights/hour or a few dozen to 100 flights being canceled each day. The chief of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) – Mr. Lai Xuan Thanh, though construction activities are not conducted on the runway, but it will not be used if construction activities take place near it, under the principle of aviation safety. The restriction of use of the runway during the upcoming holiday (April 30-May 1) is said to greatly affect the business of airlines. Therefore, air carriers have proposed to delay the construction until August or September. However, the CAAV said that that time is the rainy season, which is unsuitable for the repair. The agency is considering increasing the number of take-off and landing to 25 turns per hour. The agency promised to coordinate with the related organizations to have the most appropriate option. Tan Son Nhat Airport has two runways 25L/07R and 25R/07L which were built in 1965-1967 to serve military aircraft DC8 and DC10. 25L/07R runway was upgraded in 2002 and 25R/07L was repaired in 1992 to serve B747-200 with operating frequency of 43,000 take-of and landing times for 20 years. In 2013, 25R/07L runway was upgraded again. Thuy Nga, VNN