Da Nang Airport

Da Nang International Airport is located in Da Nang, the largest city in central Vietnam. It is the third international airport in the country, besides Noi Bai International Airport (Hanoi) and Tan Son Nhat International Airport (Ho Chi Minh City), and is an important gateway to access central Vietnam. In addition to its civil aviation, the runway is shared with the Vietnamese People's Air Force (VPAF, the Không Quân Nhân Dân Việt Nam), although military activities are now extremely limited. The airport served 5 million passengers in 2014, around six years sooner than expectation. An expansion of the new terminal is currently considered to increase its capacity to 10 million passengers per annum by 2020. This airport handled 6,722,587 passengers in 2015, an increase of 34.7% compared with that of 2014.

The airport has two separate terminals for international and domestic passengers.

Situated on flat, sandy ground on the south side of the major port city of Da Nang, the area was ideal for an airfield, having unobstructed approaches to its north/south runways. Tourane Airport was built by the French colonial government in the 1930s as a civilian airport. During World War II, and the Japanese occupation of French Indochina, the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force used it as a military air base.

After the war, the facility was used by the French Air Force during the French Indochina War (1945–1954). In 1953/54 the French laid a NATO-standard 7,800-foot (2,400 m) asphalt runway at Tourane and stationed loaned American B-26s "Invaders" of the Groupe de Bombardement 1/19 Gascogne. In 1954 after the Geneva Peace Accords, these B-26s were returned to the United States.

In 1955, the newly established Republic of Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) inherited from the French a token force of fifty-eight aircraft. These included a few squadrons of Cessna L-19 observation aircraft, C-47 transports and various utility aircraft. Tourane Airfield was turned over to civilian use, with the South Vietnamese using facilities at Bien Hoa, Nha Trang and at Tan Son Nhut, near Saigon.

In 1957 the VNAF re-established a presence at the renamed Da Nang Airport, stationing the 1st Liaison Squadron with Cessna L-19s. The South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) also used Da Nang as a ranger training facility.

Air Vietnam also used the facility from 1951 to 1975 for civilian domestic and international flights within Southeast Asia.

During the Vietnam War (1959–1975), the facility was known as Da Nang Air Base, and was a major United States military base. Once little more than a provincial airfield, the facility was expanded to 2,350 acres (950 ha) with two 10,000-foot (3,048 m) asphalt runways with concrete touchdown pads. parallel taxiways, and a heliport.

During the war the VNAF's 1st Air Division, and the USAF's 23d Air Base Group, 6252nd Tactical Wing, 35th Tactical Fighter Wing, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, 362nd Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron, and the U.S. Navy (a detachment of VQ-1) operated from the base.

During the year 2006, Da Nang Airport counted one million passengers annually (40,000 international passengers), the first time since 1975 it had reached this level. y comparison, both the fourth-ranked Phu Bai Airport and fifth-ranked Cam Ranh Airport counted around 400,000 total passengers in the same year. In order to cope with increasing traffic, a new passengers terminal opened on December 2011.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Da_Nang_International_Airport