Bokeo International Airport guide

Bokeo International Airport is in Tonpheung district, Bokeo Province, in the north of Laos. It sits about 5 km from the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, close to where the Mekong River forms the border with Thailand and Myanmar. The provincial capital, Huay Xai, is roughly 60 km away, and the older Huay Xai airport has no commercial service.

The airport was built under a 50-year build-operate-transfer concession granted by the Lao government to Greater Bay Area Investment and Development, a Hong Kong company linked to the Dok Ngiew Kham Group that runs the Golden Triangle zone. Construction began in September 2020 and cost an estimated US$175 million. The site covers about 300 hectares.

The single asphalt runway, 03/21, is 2,500 m long and 45 m wide and takes aircraft such as the Boeing 737-900ER and Airbus A320 and A321. Despite its name, the airport has mainly handled domestic flights. Planned routes include Vientiane, Luang Prabang and Savannakhet, with international services to cities such as Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Kunming proposed. The terminal handles about 600 passengers at a time and is designed for up to 2 million passengers a year.