YANGON, Myanmar — A consortium headed by South Korea's Incheon will build a new international airport in Myanmar to help the Southeast Asian country cope with an influx of tourists and business executives, state media said Saturday.
Efforts to construct the sprawling $1 billion Hanthawaddy airport — the second international hub for the main city of Yangon— have been on again-off again for almost two decades.
The airport is currently scheduled for completion by 2018. Authorities say it will eventually be able to accommodate 35 million passengers per year.
The state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper said Saturday that the Incheon Airport Consortium was among 30 companies that showed interest in the project.
The existing Yangon International Airport can now handle 2.7 million passengers a year. It's also expanding, with plans to reach 6 million in 2017.
