Passengers in Nội Bài International Airport. The Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam estimates that the nation's airports will receive 100 million passengers this year. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — The number of passengers passing through airports nationwide reached 81 million in the past ten months this year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam (CAAV).

It is forecasted that this year the airports nationwide will receive 100 million passengers, still lower than the total of 120 million in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic, said Đinh Việt Thắng, director of CAAV.

In terms of transport volume, in 10 months, Vietnamese airlines have transported 40 million passengers, and it is expected that the total number of passengers transported in 2022 will reach 55 million, Thắng said.

According to the director, in the past 10 months, the domestic market has experienced high growth, and is considered one of the best growth markets, but the international market has only recovered by about 50 per cent.

The restoration of flight routes in some key markets, especially China, is still hindered by COVID-19. Negotiations to reconnect flight routes with this market are being actively engaged.

Some markets, such as South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, have opened, but travel demand is still very low.

The recovery of the aviation industry has not been as expected, but the bright spot for the international market in the first ten months this year was that Việt Nam has opened the Indian market with relatively positive transport volume, Thắng said.

The CAAV said that in the period from September 19 to October 18, Vietnamese airlines performed 25,037 flights, decreasing by 17.6 per cent compared to the previous month, of which 23,314 flights took off on time, accounting for a 93.1 per cent on-time performance (OTP), up 2.5 percentage points from the previous month.

The total number of cancelled flights was 112, making up 0.45 per cent of total flights, up 0.3 percentage points compared to the previous month. — VNS

Chip ID card check-in to be pilotedThe use of chip-based ID cards for fast check-in on some domestic flights may be piloted from April next year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam (CAAV). The pilot scheme is expected to be applied on several domestic flights for six months before a final decision is made.Hà Nội's Nội Bài International Airport will carry out the scheme. There will be an exclusive lane in the check-in and security control areas for passengers using chip-based ID cards, where facial recognition technology will be used to verify the identity of passengers instead of airport staff.This technology is essential as it will help reduce the risk of forged papers being used and of check-in counters at airports being overloaded, while increasing passenger convenience.