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The Ministry of Transport of Vietnam proposes to re-open international flights to 15 countries

20-10-2021

The Ministry of Transport proposed to re-open regular international flights from the first quarter of 2022 for both passengers with or without "vaccine passports".

 

Resuming regular international flights, removing difficulties for aviation businesses.

"Today (November 8), Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan signed a document reporting to the Prime Minister on proposing to resume international flights in 3 phases.

 

"" Since late March 2020, due to impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, all international flights have only been allowed to carry passengers and cargo to other countries but only goods to Vietnam. The transportation of passengers to Vietnam will only be conducted with permission of authorised agencies."", The Ministry of Transport clarified.

 

 

According to the Ministry of Transport, between April 2020 and September 2021, more than 274,200 people entered Vietnam by air, ensuring compliance with regulations on entry and prevention of the Covid-19 pandemic. Vietnamese airlines have organized more than 400 ""rescue"" flights then isolated at military facilities, transporting more than 110,000 citizens back home and nearly 150 flights in the form of citizens paying all the costs of isolation (combo) at the hotel, moving cost, testing ... with more than 30,000 citizens.

 

For regular international flights carrying passengers to (with entry permission from the competent authorities) and from Vietnam, there are currently only 19 international airlines and 1 domestic airline (Vietnam Airlines) operating.

 

For flights between Vietnam (Hanoi and HCM City) and 13 countries and territories namely China, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Hong Kong (China), Taiwan (China), Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Cambodia, Australia, France, the UAE and Qatar , on average there are more than 130 weekly flights each way. IIn the first nine months of 2021, about 7,500 international flights carried 350,000 passengers in total . The average seat factor is 13.27%.

 

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The Ministry of Transport said that the proposal to resume regular international flights will contribute to removing difficulties for aviation businesses; at the same time, promoting the process of economic recovery and tourism for localities in particular and the whole country in general, ensuring the anti-pandemic measure and compliance with regulations on control and isolation of people on entry.

 

Three-phase scheme

"For flights that Vietnamese citizens pay for the isolation costs themselves (combo) will comply with the guidance of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued. Pilot flights to welcome international tourists to some localities such as Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa, Quang Ninh, Da Nang, Quang Nam will follow the pilot program to welcome international tourists to Vietnam issued by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.

 

Specifically, the Ministry of Transport proposed conditions to reopen international flights that passengers entering Vietnam must have a negative PCR test for SARSCoV-2 within 72 hours, passengers must install, make an electronic medical declaration and checkup at the airport of destination...

 

On that basis, the MoT proposed a three-phase scheme to resume regular flights carrying passengers to Vietnam. In the first phase, starting in the first quarter of 2022, flights will not be required to have the list of their passengers approved by authorised agencies, excluding entry-exit and health control requirements. Subjects are Vietnamese citizens and foreigners. Target markets are China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia, France, Germany, Russia, UK, Australia.

 

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These countries and territories that currently have a higher percentage of people receiving full doses of the vaccine than Vietnam have been implementing ""combo"" flights, pilot flights to welcome international tourists and be important aviation markets of Vietnamese airlines. The frequency of operation is 4 flights/week/way for each side (Vietnam expects about 12,000 passengers per week.).

 

Based on the opinions of the relevant localities on the possibility of arranging isolation and receiving passengers, the Ministry of Transport will direct the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to carry out the work of granting flight permits as regulations.

 

Passengers must receive a full vaccine, carry out concentrated isolation for 7 days following the guidance of the Ministry of Health and have a certificate of full vaccine. F0s have recovered not over 6 months, accompanied by a confirmation that the cost of isolation has been paid at a designated isolation facility (hotel) including the cost of ground transportation to the isolation hotel.

 

Passengers who have not had enough vaccine doses will undergo 14-day concentrated isolation ( received payment confirmation of isolation costs at the quarantine facility.) However, the implementation of this phase must ensure compliance with the ability to anti-pandemic measures in the country as well as the results of negotiations and agreement with other countries/territories on the recognition of ""vaccine passports"".

 

In the second phase, from the second quarter of 2022, international passengers flying to Vietnam on regular flights who have vaccine passports will not be required to undergo concentrated quarantine. In this phase, each airline will be allowed to operate seven flights per leg per week.

 

Passengers who carry a “vaccine passport” will have to undertake only 3-7 days of home quarantine following the instruction of The Ministry of Health and those who have not had "" vaccine passport"" will undertake 14-day concentrated quarantine.

 

Passengers carrying ""vaccine passports"" and self-isolate at their places of residence for 3-7 days according to the guidance of the Ministry of Health, passengers without vaccine passports are isolated for 14 days.

 

During the third phase of the scheme, regular international flights will be operated depending on the demand and developments of the COVID-19 pandemic and the vaccination rate in Vietnam and the world. The market and frequency of exploitation will be decided by the airlines themselves, and will be deployed from the third quarter of 2022.

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