Passengers wait to check in at Tan Son Nhat airport’s domestic terminal just before Tet last year. (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – An estimated 4.1 million passengers are forecast to gothrough Tan Son Nhat international airport in Ho Chi Minh City during the 2018Lunar New Year (Tet) festival, up 25 percent from the 2017 Tet.
There will be nearly 26,300 take-offs and landings, up by 20 percent from the2017 Tet occasion, according to the Southern Air Authority.
Carriers had plans to increase their flights by 10-15 percent from the 2017 Tetto meet the travel demands during the country’s biggest festival.
Airlines, byDecember 26, had registered to increase nearly 3,000 flights and 582,000 seatson 22 routes from and to 18 domestic airports for the Tet Holiday.
Flight routes withadditional flights and seats include Hanoi’s Noi Bai Airport to Ho Chi MinhCity’s Tan Son Nhat Airport (790 flights/158,000 seats), Tan Son Nhat Airportto Thua Thien - Hue province’s Phu Bai Airport (335 flights/67,000 seats), TanSon Nhat Airport to Khanh Hoa province’s Cam Ranh Airport (324 flights/66,000seats) 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 (185flights/36,000 seats) and Tan Son Nhat Airport to Thanh Hoa province’s Tho XuanAirport (182 flights/37,000 seats).
Earlier, DeputyMinister of Transport Le Dinh Tho urged the aviation industry and relevantstate bodies to work to minimize flight delays and cancellations during the Tetholiday.
According to BuiMinh Dang, deputy head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam’s transportdivision, the aviation industry saw a significant growth of around 19-20percent in 2017. It served about 62 million passengers in 2017, an increase of19 percent from 2016.
In 2017, the averageOn-time Performance (OTP) of airlines was estimated at 87.7 percent, higherthan the global average of 75-79 percent. Most of delays and cancellations haveoccurred due to severe weather like storms or mist or during public holidays.-VNA
VNA
