The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has submitted a draftcircular to the Ministry of Transport that requires aviation companiesto provide compensation for passengers on flights delayed by more thanfour hours.
The current regulation requires compensation only for cancelled flights.
Ifthe circular is approved, customers of domestic flights which arecancelled or delayed by more than four hours will receive 200,000 VND(9.5 USD) for a flight that is less than 500 km, 300,000 VND (14 USD)for a flight of 500 to 1,000 km, and 400,000 VND (19 USD) for a flightof more than 1,000 km.
However, the compensation rate forinternational flights will remain unchanged, at 25 USD for a delayed andcancelled flight of less than 1,000km, 50 USD for a flight of 1,000 to2,500 km, 80 USD for a flight of 2,5000 to 5,000 km, and 150 USD for aflight of more than 5,000 km.
A member of the committee thatdrafted the proposed circular told Baodautu.vn that compensation forinternational flights was in US dollars, which have a small currencyfluctuation, so the compensation rate was retained.
According tothe circular, passengers who either did not receive compensation, orreceived compensation at less than the proposed levels may send a formalcomplaint by email to the concerned aviation companies within one yearof the delayed or cancelled flight.
The aviation companies musteither reply to the complaint or pay compensation at the proposed levelswithin seven days. Passengers may sue the company within two years ofthe delayed or cancelled flight.
Exactly 2,057 or13.8 percent of the14,942 flights to and from Vietnam in August2014 were delayed, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam(CAAV).
Figures from the CAAV also showed that Jetstar Pacifictopped the list of airlines with the highest rate of delayed fights at25.1 percent, followed by VietJet Air , Vietnam Airlines and Vasco.
VietnamAirlines had the most number of cancelled flights at 58, followed byVietJet Air with 18. Jetstar Pacific cancelled only one flight whileVasco had no cancellations.
The figures also showed that latearrivals made up 62.7 percent of delayed flights while technicalmalfunctions, poor service at airports and flight management problemsmade up 29.9 percent, and poor weather conditions and other reasons madeup 7 percent.-VNA
