Airplanes at Nội Bài International Airport. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The Civil Aviation Authority of Việt Nam (CAAV) has ordered airlines to improve security, flight safety and service quality, including to minimise delayed and cancelled flights, while maintaining COVID-19 prevention measures, during the upcoming 2023 New Year and Lunar New Year (Tết) holidays.

Đinh Việt Thắng, head of CAAV, said demands on air travel are expected to sharply increase during the holidays.

Airlines have been told to allocate enough staff to deal with any incidents and minimise delayed and cancelled flights.

Thắng has also asked all airlines to ensure that pilots, flight attendants and technicians follow regulations on flight safety.

The country’s busiest airports, such as Tân Sơn Nhất, Nội Bài, Đà Nẵng, Vinh, Cam Ranh, Phú Quốc and Cát Bi, have been asked to focus on flight safety during this time, according to Thắng.

Thắng has also directed the Việt Nam Airlines Corporation to make its own plan to serve passengers during the holidays.

The corporation should check its infrastructure and facilities, and then take measures to repair or maintain runways and parking lots if necessary.

The Việt Nam Air Traffic Management Corporation is asked to allocate more staff to ensure operations run smoothly when additional flights are changed or weather conditions worsen.

Airlines must also control alcohol and drug use violations by aviation employees, especially pilots, aircraft maintenance staff, air traffic controllers and ground service staff.

The departments of transport across cities and provinces have been asked to work with competent authorities to reduce congestion at airports, especially Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport in HCM City.

Domestic airlines will add more night flights before, during and after the holidays to meet increasing passenger demand, according to CAAV.

The airlines plan to increase the number of seats to 6.7 million from 5.1 million to meet travel demand, it said.

During the holidays, the average number of daily flights will be increased to more than 1,000 from 826, it added.

Routes that will see more round-trip flights are from HCM City to Hà Nội, Đà Nẵng, Đồng Hới, Vinh, Thanh Hóa, Chu Lai, Hải Phòng, Qui Nhơn, Huế, it added.

The Lunar New Year holiday will fall on Sunday, January 22, 2023. — VNS