HÀ NỘI – Airlines, until Tuesday, had registered to increase nearly 3,000 flights and 582,000 seats on 22 routes from and to 18 domestic airports.

This was being done in order to satisfy the rising travel demands during the Tết (Vietnamese New Year) Holiday.

Flight routes with additional flights and seats include Hà Nội’s Nội Bài Airport to HCM City’s Tân Sơn Nhất Airport (790 flights/158,000 seats), Tân Sơn Nhất Airport to Thừa Thiên – Huế Province’s Phú Bài Airport (335 flights/67,000 seats), Tân Sơn Nhất Airport to Khánh Hoà Province’s Cam Ranh Airport (324 flights/66,000 seats) and Tân Sơn Nhất Airport to Đà Nẵng Airport (262 flights/51,000 seats), as well as Tân Sơn Nhất Airport to Nghệ An Province’s Vinh Airport (185 flights/36,000 seats) and Tân Sơn Nhất Airport to Thanh Hoá Province’s Thọ Xuân Airport (182 flights/37,000 seats).

From January 30 to February 4, 2018 (December 14 - January 17 in the lunar calendar), airlines will operate 22,300 domestic flights with 4.1 million seats and increase 15 per cent of flights and 19 per cent of seats, as compared to the same period last year.

According to Việt Nam Aviation Administration (VAA), 70 per cent of seats on domestic flights during the Tết holiday are still available. Therefore, the agency recommended that passengers access information regarding flights and tickets via the airlines’ authorised offices.   

Airlines asked to reduce delayed, cancelled flights

In another development, the punctuality rate of airlines in Việt Nam was 87.7 per cent in 2017, higher than the world’s average percentage of 75 to 79 per cent.

The information was released at a conference on solutions to flight delays and cancellations during the Tết Holiday, hosted by VAA on Wednesday.

Speaking at the event, Bùi Minh Đăng, deputy head of the Transportation Department under VAA, cited airports’ poor facilities, flight management systems and the weather as the main reasons for delays and cancellations.

Moreover, the agency’s data shows that 67 to 68 per cent of delayed and cancelled flights were due to the late arrival of the previous flights.

“All airports have their own services quality management departments to monitor carriers’ operations and service supplies. Therefore, they can identify causes of delayed and cancelled flights based on flight schedules,” he said.

Trịnh Ngọc Thành, deputy director of Vietnam Airlines, stressed on punctuality and prices as important factors of a carrier, besides safety and service quality.

“Vietnam Airlines is committed to not cancelling flights because of commercial purposes. Flights are delayed or cancelled only due to safety requirements,” he said.

Lê Đình Thọ, deputy minister of Transport, emphasised the significance of passengers’ rights assurance in case of delays or cancellations. He also asked airlines and related agencies, by all means, to reduce delayed and cancelled flights, especially during the Tết holiday.

“Carriers have to improve their operation, flight management and human resources to reduce delayed and cancelled flights due to subjective reasons,” he added. – VNS