Da Nang Airport Guide: From Air Base to Beach Gateway
Da Nang Airport grew from a Vietnam War air base into the gateway to central Vietnam. Read about its parallel runways, two terminals, routes and spotting.
By The Aviation Hub
7 min read
Updated October 20, 2026 
Da Nang International Airport sits in the middle of Vietnam’s fourth largest city, a short taxi ride from the beaches of My Khe and the bridges over the Han River. It is the third busiest airport in the country and the gateway to Hoi An, Hue and the central coast. Da Nang Airport handles around 12 million passengers a year on two parallel runways that the United States Air Force laid in the 1960s. Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air dominate, with a growing roster of carriers from Korea, China and South East Asia.
Da Nang Airport at a Glance
The codes are DAD and VVDN. The field lies about 2 miles (3 km) south west of the city centre, which makes it one of the most central airports in Asia. Elevation is 33 ft (10 m), with the Son Tra peninsula and the Hai Van pass to the north and the Marble Mountains to the south. Passengers can see the beach from the climb out.
Da Nang Airport has two runways and two passenger terminals, Terminal 1 for domestic flights and Terminal 2 for international. Traffic peaked at roughly 15.5 million passengers in 2019, fell sharply through the pandemic and has recovered to around 12 million. Vietnam Airlines and its regional arm VASCO treat it as a hub, and VietJet Air and Bamboo Airways base aircraft here. Airports Corporation of Vietnam runs the domestic side, and a private consortium operates Terminal 2. Flight details are on the airport’s official website.
A Short History of Da Nang’s Airfield
The French colonial administration built a civil airfield here in the 1940s and called it Tourane, the old name for the city. The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force used it during the Second World War. The South Vietnamese Air Force moved in during 1957 and renamed it Da Nang Airport, and the United States arrived in force in 1965 when the Marines landed on the beaches nearby.
Da Nang Air Base became one of the busiest airfields in the world during the Vietnam War. The Americans expanded the site to around 950 hectares with two 3,048 m runways and ramps for fighters, transports and reconnaissance aircraft. The base fell to North Vietnamese forces in March 1975 in chaotic scenes as civilians fought to board the last departing airliners.
Civil traffic returned slowly after reunification. A new domestic terminal opened on 15 December 2011, and one runway was extended to 3,500 m in the same project. The international Terminal 2 followed on 5 May 2017. A joint Vietnamese and American programme to clean dioxin left by Agent Orange storage at the base finished in 2018 after six years of work.
Runways at Da Nang Airport
Runway 17L/35R is the longer strip at 3,500 m (11,483 ft) and 45 m wide after its 2011 extension. Runway 17R/35L measures 3,048 m (10,000 ft) with the same width. The two run parallel on a north to south heading, a legacy of the American layout, and they sit close enough that the airport uses them as a dependent pair.
The north east monsoon from October to March puts most landings onto the 35 runways, with aircraft arriving over the suburbs and the Cam Le river to the south. Summer southerlies swing operations onto 17L and 17R, and arrivals then cross the city and the bay from the north. The Vietnamese People’s Air Force still shares the field, though its activity is now light.
Both strips show their age. Airports Corporation of Vietnam proposed a full rebuild of 17R/35L in 2026 after surveys found the pavement structurally degraded, and the work will mean single runway operations for a long spell. The longer 17L/35R handles the heaviest aircraft, including the wide body jets.
Terminals and Airlines
Terminal 1 opened in 2011 and handles all domestic flights at Da Nang Airport, which is most of the traffic. Vietnam Airlines, VietJet Air, Bamboo Airways and VASCO share its gates. The building has a wide departures hall and both contact stands and bus gates. It was first built for 4 million passengers a year, a figure long since passed.
Terminal 2 is the international building, a 48,000 square metre hall opened in 2017 and rated five stars by Skytrax. Korean Air, Asiana, Air Busan, Air Seoul, Eastar Jet, Trinity Airways and Vietjet all serve Korea from here, and the Korean market is the largest foreign source of visitors. Emirates, HK Express, Singapore Airlines, Scoot, AirAsia, Thai AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines, Cebu Pacific, EVA Air and Starlux complete the list.
Vietnam Airlines keeps a Lotus lounge in each terminal. The two buildings stand side by side on the eastern side of the airfield with a shared forecourt.
Routes and Destinations
Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are the big routes. Hanoi to Da Nang runs around 319 flights a week and ranks as the second busiest domestic route in Vietnam, and Ho Chi Minh City to Da Nang comes third with about 250. Vietnam Airlines, VietJet and Bamboo throw Airbus A321s and Boeing 737s at both pairs through the day. Da Lat, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc and Thanh Hoa are among the other domestic links.
Seoul Incheon is the busiest international route from Da Nang Airport, with Busan, Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Taipei, Hong Kong, Manila and Tokyo among the other main links. Seasonal and charter flights reach Russia and Kazakhstan in winter. Emirates links the airport with Dubai by way of Bangkok, and the seasonal charters to Moscow are the longest flights of all. Traffic peaks in July and August and again around Tet in late January or February.
Getting to and from Da Nang Airport
There is no rail or metro link, and the airport is so close to the city that none is needed. A taxi to the city centre or the Han River bridges takes 10 to 15 minutes and costs around 100,000 to 150,000 dong (£3 to £5). Grab, the regional ride hailing app, is cheaper and has a pickup point outside each terminal. Hotels in Hoi An are about 45 minutes away.
Public city buses serve the airport for a few thousand dong, which is the cheapest option but slow and infrequent. Shuttle buses run to Hoi An and Hue, the latter a two hour drive over or through the Hai Van pass. Short stay parking sits in front of both terminals, and motorbike parking is extensive.
Spotting and Photography
Da Nang Airport is unusually easy to watch because it is surrounded by city streets. The approach to the 35 runways crosses the Cam Le district to the south, where arrivals pass low over streets and markets. The 17 approach brings aircraft in low over the city from the north.
Rooftop bars and hotels along the Han River give views of departures climbing out over the city, and the beachfront at My Khe sees aircraft turning out over the sea. Morning light favours the eastern side near the terminals, and the late afternoon sun lights up the 35 approach. The humid summer haze fades quickly after a shower.
The airport remains a military base. Keep well away from the military areas of the field and from any uniformed personnel, do not photograph military aircraft and move on if asked. The civil side draws no attention.
What Comes Next
Airports Corporation of Vietnam has laid out a programme to rebuild Runway 17R/35L and then enlarge both terminals, with a target of around 20 million passengers a year by 2030. A partnership with FPT Software promises Vietnam’s first smart terminal with biometric boarding. International growth will come from Korea, China and India, where Vietnam is pushing hard for new routes.
The constraint is the city. Da Nang has grown around the field, and there is no room for a third runway or a new terminal site. Instead, Chu Lai airport to the south, now part of the enlarged Da Nang city, is being upgraded to ease the pressure.
Da Nang Airport will remain the hub of central Vietnam, busier each year and squeezed on all sides. Compare it with Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City on the Airports of the World map.
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