HÀ NỘI — Tân Sơn Nhất Airport on Monday entered its busiest time of the year as people started flying back home to celebrate Lunar New Year or Tết.

The airport is reportedly often overcrowded when travel demand, especially during Tết holidays, increases sharply.

According to the Tân Sơn Nhất authority, the number of passengers and flights before and after Tết 2017 will rise year-on-year 19.6 per cent.

On January 24 and 25, the airport is set to handle 776 flights and 112,745 passengers, an increase of 141 flights and 14,500 passengers compared to the same period last year.

After Tết, the airport will serve 805 flights and 124,775 passengers per day on average.

This means more flights will arrive or depart from the airport at night, making passengers stay up late or get up early to make their flight.

Around three o’clock early Monday morning, people were flocking to the airport. In the waiting area, some were sleeping on chairs.

A passenger, Nguyễn Thị Hồng Phương, said to baotintuc.vn that her family’s flight from HCM City to central Vinh City was scheduled to depart at 6.20 Monday morning but they left home in Thủ Đức District four hours earlier.

“Our children are so sleepy and tired because of getting up early but we have to accept it or we could be late for the flight because of traffic jams,” she said.

Another passenger Nguyễn Trường Hải said at the airport’s check-in area that his flight to northern Hải Phòng City was departing at 6.50am and that he travelled from Vũng Tàu City to HCM City at about 1am as he was also afraid of traffic.

Tân Sơn Nhất Airport is currently overloaded both in the sky and on the ground, Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) head Lại Xuân Thanh said at a conference on the transport sector last Tuesday.

In 2016, the airport received 33 million passengers, 28 per cent higher above the figures set in the transport plan until 2020. Each day, the airport sees some 40,000 automobiles going in and out.

During peak hours, there are 42 flights per hour at the airport, while the number of flights reaches 38 during non-peak hours. CAAV is determined to not increase flights during peak hours to reduce pressure inside and outside the airport. — VNS