Int’l flights carrying Vietnamese to Noi Bai Airport suspended

Illustration photo

The suspension, slated to last until the end of this month, was requested by the Ministry of Transport (MOT) in its recent dispatch sent to the Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam (CAAV).

The ministry asked the CAAV to announce the suspension to all airlines in a bid to ease the pressure on overloaded quarantine facilities in the city.

According to the flight schedule, Noi Bai Airport would receive about 577 passengers of Vietnamese nationality (based on statistics about the passengers who had booked tickets from airlines) boarding flights from Russia, Japan and Thailand.

Previously, the Prime Minister urged the MOT to take resolute and effective measures to minimize flights carrying passengers from foreign countries into Viet Nam, including those operated by foreign airlines.

The PM assigned the MOT to coordinate with relevant ministries to organize flights into Viet Nam to ensure isolation areas are not overloaded and landings at Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat airports are restricted, in addition to strictly implementing measures to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic on public means of transport in accordance with health agencies’ recommendations.

Under the PM’s direction, the MOT has asked the CAAV to notify all international and Vietnamese airlines that all international flights to Viet Nam will have to land at Van Don, Can Tho and Phu Cat international airports and other airports as requested by aviation authorities, due to the limited capacity of isolation areas at Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat airports.

Currently, Vietnamese airlines have suspended the operation of most of their international routes. Specifically, Vietnam Airlines has announced the suspension of the Viet Nam-Japan/UK routes starting March 23, the Viet Nam-Germany route starting March 24 and the Viet Nam-Australia route starting March 25./.

By Vien Nhu