Hanoi (VNA) - Airlines, by December 26, 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 Tet (Vietnamese New Year) Holiday.

Flight routes with additional flights and seats include Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport to Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat Airport (790 flights/158,000 seats), Tan Son Nhat Airport to Thua Thien - Hue province’s Phu Bai Airport (335 flights/67,000 seats), Tan Son Nhat Airport to Khanh Hoa province’s Cam Ranh Airport (324 flights/66,000 seats) and Tan Son Nhat Airport to Da Nang Airport (262 flights/51,000 seats), as well as Tan Son Nhat Airport to Nghe An province’s Vinh Airport (185 flights/36,000 seats) and Tan Son Nhat Airport to Thanh Hoa province’s Tho Xuan Airport (182 flights/37,000 seats).

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

According to Vietnam Aviation Administration (VAA), 70 percent of seats on domestic flights during the Tet 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 Vietnam was 87.7 per cent in 2017, higher than the world’s average percentage of 75 to 79 percent.

The information was released at a conference on solutions to flight delays and cancellations during the Tet Holiday, hosted by VAA on December 27.

Speaking at the event, Bui Minh Dang, 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 percent 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.

Trinh Ngoc Thanh, 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.

Le Dinh Tho, 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 Tet holiday.

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