The airport is located in Phú Minh commune in Sóc Sơn district, about 35 km (22 mi) northeast of downtown Hanoi, via the new Nhật Tân Bridge (also inaugurated on 4 January 2015).

The airport is also close to some satellite cities of Hanoi such as Vĩnh Yên, Bắc Ninh and Thái Nguyên.

It was later joined by low-cost carrier AirAsia when they launched direct flights between Hanoi and Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

[citation needed] In 2014, the airport received its first scheduled service with the newest generation of commercial aircraft when All Nippon Airways started using a Boeing 787-8 on services between to Tokyo–Haneda and later the same year the airport received its first visit of Airbus A350 XWB operated by Airbus on World Tour trip.

Japan's official development assistance accounted for ¥59 billion ($504.27 million) of the investment, while the remaining amount was covered by local funds.

[10] The new international terminal was inaugurated on 4 January 2015[2] together with a new freeway connecting the airport to downtown Hanoi via the Nhật Tân Bridge.

The distance between the two runways is only 250 metres, so the airport currently restricts the maximum passenger capacity in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization safety regulations.

[14] One can generally do an international transit through the airport without a visa as long as one does not need to leave the security area.

[15] There is the ability to pick up boarding passes within the security area including for some low cost airlines like VietJet.