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I
n early July 2014, Vo Huy Cuong, deputy general director
of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), visited
Noi Bai International Airport to monitor the flights of all
domestic airlines. While Cuong and his team monitored
domestic airlines at Noi Bai Airport, other teams were doing
the at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City
and Danang International Airport in Danang.
The monitoring teams were established because passen-
gers had been crying foul of more than one fourth of domestic
flights being delayed or cancelled in the first half of 2014.
Minister of Transport, Dinh La Thang, said in a meeting
early July that he was angry with this situation and asked
CAAV to enforce punishments for airlines. Thang strongly crit-
icised CAAV for a huge rise in flight delays and cancellations
in the first half of this year. He even threatened to revoke an
air carrier’s operating license because of its high rate of delays
and cancellations.
One day before CAAV began to monitor airlines, the
national flag carrier suddenly cancelled a flight from Danang
to Lam Dong province, raising protest from nearly 60 pas-
sengers. Bui Van Hung, a passenger, said he felt dissatisfied
when the airline canceled the flight and announced compen-
sation of only VND100,000 for each passenger. Finally, under
pressure from passengers, the airline decided to increase
compensation to VND300,000 and an additional VND300,000
for hotel costs.
“Finding the reasons behind the delay and cancellation
of flights will help us take the right measures to reduce the
problems,” said Cuong.
However, this is no easy task. Vietnam now has three
larger airlines - Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific and VietJetAir
- operating in the domestic market. Every day, these airlines
fly 500 commercial flights. This means CAAV has to work hard
to find the reasons for the delay or cancellation of around
100 flights each day. The airlines often attribute the delays
and cancellations to bad weather or technical problems, but
there’s much more beyond these reasons.
Vu Pham Nguyen Tung, director of development at Vi-
timeout
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BOILING POINT
Vietnamese airlines are struggling to reduce flight delays and cancellations,
writes
Ngoc Linh
THE WAITING GAME