Resumption of flights to Noi Bai, no concentrated quarantine proposed for people with negative Covid tests

The Ministry of Transportation (MOT) has sent a document urging Hanoi authorities to resume flights to Noi Bai International Airport, saying that if Noi Bai continues to run out of passengers, the economy will suffer huge losses.

VABA chairman Pham Viet Dung gave several reasons for the communities to consider reopening air routes.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, airline revenues have fallen by 90 percent. The aviation sector’s losses are growing rapidly and are estimated at VND 20 trillion this year. Meanwhile, short-term and maturing debt has reached VND36 trillion.

Vietnam Airlines has requested VND 10-12 trillion preferred loans. Vietjet Air wants a VND 10 trillion loan while Bamboo wants to borrow VND 5 trillion in refinance mode from commercial banks, the solution that has been applied to Vietnam Airlines, and a 3-4 year preferred loan.

Meanwhile, Pacific Airlines said it would take VND 5.7 trillion to restore production, including VND 2 trillion to be disbursed in 2021 and 2022. Vietravel has requested a VND 1 trillion loan at zero or preferential rates.

Closing the skies caused the aviation industry to lose VND 500 billion per day and the tourism industry to lose VND 2 trillion (70 percent of tourists are carried by airlines).

Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat are the two major airports that serve nearly 90 percent of the country’s total passengers and airline revenue.

“If Noi Bai continues to fail to receive regular passengers on commercial flights, it will cause great losses to the aviation sector and affect the economic recovery plan,” the document said.

Aviation is the safest form of public transport. Pilots, stewardesses and officers are fully vaccinated. Passengers must also undergo a quick test at departure airports before boarding (including passengers with negative test results within 72 hours of arriving at airports).

Vaccination rates in Hanoi, HCM City and pandemic-hit locations are very high. It would be better to give these people priority to travel, work and engage in daily activities as usual, even if they are from pandemic areas.

Dung stressed that if the local authorities reopen the flight routes, people on cheap flights can safely return to their hometowns. Currently, people are trying to drive thousands of kilometers to their hometowns on motorcycles.

VABA has asked the city / provincial people’s committees to approve the reopening of routine commercial flight routes, particularly flights to / from Noi Bai, Da Nang and Tan Son Nhat, from October 10th and not to require a concentrated quarantine for negative passengers. The passengers are only monitored and controlled with technology solutions.

In the dispatch to the Hanoi People’s Committee on October 6, MOT, citing the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister Le Van Thanh, proposed a temporary plan to organize flights to / from Noi Bai as follows:

Option 1 offers flights from Hanoi to HCM City with the frequency of two round-trip flights per day.

Option 2, which only offers flights from Hanoi to HCM City with a frequency of four flights per day.

As for other localities, MOT asked the Hanoi People’s Committee for opinions on links with each city / province.

Ready to sell tickets

Closing the skies caused the aviation industry to lose VND 500 billion per day and the tourism industry to lose VND 2 trillion (70 percent of tourists are carried by airlines).

Vietnam’s airlines are frantically preparing to sell tickets as soon as allowed.

The Vietnam Airlines Group plans to resume passenger air traffic on seven domestic routes from October 10, 2021.

Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines plan to resume round-trip routes between HCM City and Thanh Hoa, Nha Trang, Tuy Hoa, Quy Nhon and Phu Quoc with a frequency of one flight per day for each airline.

Vietnam Airlines plans to reopen the HCM City – Hue route with one flight per week and the one-way route from Vinh to HCM City with two flights per week.

Since the flight schedule can be adjusted depending on the development of the pandemic and the requirements of the local authorities, passengers who book tickets from now until October 31 would be exempt from the rebooking fees for flight tickets.

Vietjet also plans to use flight routes connecting HCM City with Quy Nhon in Binh Dinh, Thanh Hoa, Tuy Hoa (Phu Yen), Phu Quoc (Kien Giang) and Nha Trang (Khanh Hoa), one flight per week. There are two weekly flights from Thanh Hoa – NhaTrang and Thanh Hoa – Phu Quoc. Between October 10 and 19, there will be space between the seats in the aircraft. Passengers have to implement the 5K principle.

As of October 10, Bamboo Airways also plans to resume routes between HCM City and Thanh Hoa, Khanh Hoa, Phu Yen, Bin hDinh and Phu Quoc.

From the end of October 6th, other places have agreed to reopen domestic routes.

The province of Ba Ria – Vung Tau has asked the Vietnamese Civil Aviation Authority (CAAV) to open domestic routes to Con Dao from October 15 as part of a pilot program to accommodate and serve tourists at the Six Sense ConDao Resort.

Lam Dong has agreed on a plan to reopen the flight routes from the province to Hanoi, Hai Phong, Nghe An, Thanh Hoa and Thua Thien-Hue, Da Nang. However, it still does not intend to reopen routes to / from HCM City and Can Tho.

Quang Binh has proposed the exploitation of Quang Binh – Hanoi and Quang Binh – HCM City, 2 flights a week.

Ca Mau has supported the airlines’ plans to resume flights to the town.

Therefore, 18 cities / provinces responded to the CAAV’s proposal to reopen air routes. Of these, seven agree and four disagree (Hanoi, Hai Phong, Gia Lai and Can Tho).

Ngoc Ha

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