On September 9 morning, flight VN611 (Boeing 787-9) of Vietnam Airlines took off safely on runway 1B. Seven minutes later, a Boeing 747 8F of Cargolux Airlines (Austria) also landed safely on the runway.
Duong Viet Roan, Director of Thang Long Project Management Board, said all workload of the runway 1B upgrade has been completed.
Nguyen Bach Tung, Deputy Director of the MoT's Department of Construction Management and Quality of Traffic Works, said although the COVID-19 pandemic has seriously affected the construction, contractors have tried their best and followed the approved plan.
The quality of the project met the strict requirements of the aviation industry and the standards of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), he said.
A day earlier, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) decided to put the runway into operation based on the operation of the Noi Bai Airport.
The CAAV asked the airport to coordinate with Vietnam Flight Management Corporation to notify domestic and international airlines in line with current regulations and direct the Northern Flight Management Company to organise operations to ensure that the flights are safe.
Noi Bai is one of the two biggest airports of Vietnam which play an important role in boosting socio-economic development and ensuring defence-security.
Works to upgrade the 1B runway is part of the two-phase project to repair the Noi Bai runways started on June 29 last year with an estimated cost of about VND2.03 trillion (over US$88 million). The upgrade of runway 1A is scheduled to start on October 1 and complete before Tet (Lunar New Year) holiday.
