Freighters, airport FTZs, and “clean growth”: How Vietnam can scale air logistics from 2026

Freighter capacity: from concept to scheduled lift and network discipline
Runways can be expanded, but cargo capability only truly scales when capacity is routable, schedulable, and networked. Vietnam News reports that Vietnam Airlines plans to convert several A321 aircraft for regional cargo routes from Q4/2025 and is laying groundwork for a dedicated cargo airline expected to launch in 2026.

But freighters cannot sustain themselves without three conditions: sufficient cargo density, fast ground handling, and smooth customs/risk management. That is why freighter planning must be treated as ecosystem design, not merely fleet decisions.

Airport-linked FTZ/bonded logistics: Long Thanh becomes a hub only if the ground engine is strong
Ezhou shows that the cargo-hub “formula” is complete only when an airport is paired with a bonded/FTZ zone and large-scale processing. Long Thanh is increasingly framed in this direction. VietnamPlus reports ACV’s proposal to develop an air logistics hub at Long Thanh, emphasizing that integrating logistics with a bonded zone is a key factor in turning Long Thanh into an ASEAN-level cargo hub.

On market scale, Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Authority reports that in the first nine months of 2025, international cargo reached 946.2 thousand tonnes (market-wide), up 22.9% year-on-year. This confirms rising demand and rising pressure on ground systems. Long Thanh must therefore be prepared as a cargo operating platform - not only a construction project.

“Clean growth”: anti-transshipment and origin credibility become competitiveness conditions
What looked like a compliance issue in earlier episodes becomes a competitiveness condition in Episode 5. Reuters reported in July 2025 that the U.S. indicated 20% tariffs for many Vietnamese goods and a 40% levy for goods deemed transshipped through Vietnam. Under such a framework, the more Vietnam scales logistics throughput, the more essential it becomes to demonstrate “real trade, real origin.”

Reuters also reported that Vietnam issued a directive to intensify efforts against illegal transshipment and trade fraud (effective mid-April 2025 in the Reuters-cited document), including stricter inspection and verification for imported inputs and exports labeled “Made in Vietnam,” especially for enterprises with sharply rising C/O requests. This signals that origin credibility is being internalized as governance discipline, not treated solely as external pressure.

For companies, “clean growth” means building coherent documentary trails from inputs to finished goods, standardizing traceability data, and being ready for post-clearance checks. For a national air-logistics strategy, “clean growth” means developing hubs/FTZs together with data tools and risk governance - so Vietnam can accelerate without creating exploitable loopholes.

Closes the series with a clear message: Vietnam has a window of opportunity as international demand grows and supply chains search for stable transport networks. But opportunity turns into advantage only if Vietnam builds the right structure: freighters provide dynamic lift, Long Thanh (and key airports) provide FTZ/logistics processing capacity, and origin compliance provides the credibility needed to expand networks. When these three layers move in sync, Vietnam increases not only tonnage, but also strategic position in regional supply chains.