Vietnam edges back into international flights, plans more

September 30, 2020

Vietnam's first inward international commercial flight for six months, from Seoul, touched down at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on September 25. Earlier, VN's first scheduled outward international commercial service flew from Hanoi to Tokyo with nearly 60 passengers, including mainly Vietnamese students and workers and Japanese nationals.

Vo Huy Cuong, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, described the service from Seoul as a 'trial flight' to evaluate the operational capability of Vietnam's local aviation industry. The flight met stringent pandemic prevention standards.

 Vo said the flight also realised the Government's dual goals of fighting the pandemic and promoting economic development, "embracing the 'new normal' with more development opportunities".

Passengers were required to produce a negative SARS-CoV-2 certificate (completed within three days before departure, to install a mobile phone tracking app, and to be tested for SARS-CoV-2 in Vietnam after the flight.

Vietnam Airlines said any passengers testing positive would be transferred to a quarantine facility. Passengers otherwise would be quarantined at registered hotels and retested on the 6th day after entry, or as soon as any symptoms of possible of infection occurred.

Pending a second negative test result, passengers would be allowed to relocate to their place of residence and to undergo self-quarantine for 14 days.

Crew members were given health checks and quarantined, while the entire aircraft, including the passenger compartment and cockpit, was disinfected in accordance with international standards.

www.vietnamairlines.com (ATI.