Passengers waiting for flight at Tan Son Nhat airport
Waiting from the ground to the sky
Booking a Vietjet flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hai Phong for work on June 9, Ms. Ha Thanh (living in District 4, Ho Chi Minh City) planned to take the 5:15 p.m. flight from Singapore to enter Tan Son Nhat airport after flying back to Singapore to make it to an appointment with a colleague in Hai Phong at 8 p.m. Luckily, the flight from Singapore to Ho Chi Minh City departed on time, landing at Tan Son Nhat at exactly 3:10 p.m. as planned. Not having to wait for checked baggage, and having already completed online check-in procedures, Ms. Ha Thanh only spent an additional 45 minutes for the entire immigration process and transfer to the domestic terminal, ready for the next flight.
Waiting until 4:45 p.m. to get to the boarding gate as announced by the airline, Ms. Thanh was surprised to read on the bulletin board that the flight would depart late due to a late arrival, the new departure time was 6:10 p.m., nearly an hour late. Continuing to wait, it was almost 6:20 p.m. when the airline staff began to open the boarding gate for passengers.
"By the time all the passengers were settled and settled on the plane, it was almost 7 p.m., but as the plane moved a little, I heard an announcement from the pilot that due to the crowded situation at Tan Son Nhat, the plane would have to wait on the runway for about 10 more minutes. At that time, I saw 3 planes lined up on the taxiway waiting to take off. In the end, it took until nearly 7:30 p.m. to take off, more than 2 hours late. When I got back to the hotel, it was already past 10 p.m., the party was over. I rushed back from abroad to make it on time but ended up being late at the domestic airport. What a loss of work!" - Ms. Ha Thanh complained.
Nearly a week ago, Mr. Chi Kien (living in District 11, Ho Chi Minh City) flew Vietnam Airlines from Phu Quoc to Ho Chi Minh City and was also "promoted" nearly 30 more minutes of flight time because the runway below Tan Son Nhat was "stuck" and the plane had no place to land. Along with Mr. Kien's group, there was a group of passengers who were in a hurry to handle urgent company matters, so they were impatient and frustrated while waiting in the sky: "Airfares are now expensive and there are all kinds of delays. Passengers who are just 1 minute late are left behind, while when the plane is several hours late, just an apology is enough. It's true that you've spent money and still have to deal with the frustration."
Tourism enters peak summer season, aviation also enters peak season "delay"
Thousands of flights "delayed" but still not peak season?
According to statistics, from June 1 to 11, Tan Son Nhat Airport recorded 740 delayed domestic flights. Of which, Vietjet Air topped the list with 356 "delayed" flights, Vietnam Airlines had 260 delayed flights, followed by Pacific Airlines with 78 flights, Bamboo Airways with 31 delayed flights, Vasco with 10 delayed flights and Vietravel Airlines with the fewest flights, so the number of delayed flights was also the lowest, only 5 flights. If international flights are included, in less than half of June, a total of 915 delayed flights have been recorded.
In fact, the situation of "delayed" flights has started to "heat up" since mid-May. At that time, the leader of the Southern Airport Authority said that every year when the rainy season comes, Tan Son Nhat has to "stretch" to clear the congestion. Without safe weather conditions, planes may have to circle in the sky and not be able to land. A delayed flight will have a chain reaction, causing delays for later flights or flights departing from other airports. The terminal area will also be under pressure due to the large number of passengers waiting for their flights.
"Heavy rain often occurs in the afternoon, at rush hour, so Tan Son Nhat airport will be "triple" congested: in the sky, under the terminal, and on connecting traffic routes" - the leader of the Southern Airport Authority added.
Representative of Tan Son Nhat International Airport
However, data on "delayed" flights at Tan Son Nhat shows that the number of flights delayed due to weather in the first half of June accounts for a very small proportion - 28/740 flights. Most of the reasons are due to late arrivals and flight crews. Notably, a representative of Tan Son Nhat airport informed that Tan Son Nhat's summer peak service plan starts from June 1 to August 15, but currently the number of passengers has not increased too much. It is expected that during the entire summer of 2023, Tan Son Nhat port will serve nearly 24 million passengers on more than 150,000 flights, an increase of 7.6% in the number of passengers and 6.64% in the number of flights compared to summer 2022. The number of passengers will be concentrated in both directions of departure and arrival.
It's not even the "hottest" season of summer, but flights are already delayed like this. When everyone is rushing to travel, I wonder how terrifying the fear of "delay" will be?
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