HANOI, June 30 (Xinhua) -- Cam Ranh International Airport in Vietnam's central Khanh Hoa province on Saturday opened a new terminal for international services, becoming the first airport terminal in the country to be built upon 4-star international standards.

The operation of the new international terminal T2 will not only reduce burden for Cam Ranh International Airport which has been overloaded for years but also improve infrastructure of the airport, Transport Minister Nguyen Van The said on Saturday, adding that the second runway of the airport is under construction and scheduled to be operational at the end of this year, Vietnam News Agency reported.

T2 is capable of serving 2.4-4.5 million passengers each year and after the second phase completes, its capacity can reach 6-8 million passengers per annum by 2030.

On the inaugural day, two international flights to the Chinese city of Hangzhou and the South Korea city of Incheon departed from the new terminal.

Vietnam's aviation industry served 24.6 million passengers in the first half of this year, up 15.2 percent on-year, and transported 176,400 tons of cargoes, up 14.8 percent, according to the country's General Statistics Office.