HANOI: Vietnam's aviation authorities said thousands of flights were delayed in the nation's airports last month due to planes occupying runways longer than needed while some others were not parked in order.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said these issues contributed to the more than 5,600 flights operated by Vietnamese airlines that were delayed last month.
According to a Vn Express report, the delays accounted for more than 18 per cent of total flights operated by the country's six carriers. The figure was up by almost 16 per cent year-on-year and up 9.4 per cent from May.
It said low-cost carrier Vietjet Air had the industry's highest rate of flight delays at 24 per cent, followed by Vietnam Airlines with 20.1 per cent.
Most of the delayed flights were at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in the southern metropolis Ho Chi Minh City.
CAAV deputy head Ho Minh Tan said the issue of delayed flights at Tan Son Nhat was quite serious and authorities were trying to address the problems that contributed to it.
He said that apart from overloaded infrastructure, the arrangement of parked aircraft "is not reasonable" as planes that take off first were located far from the runway while those departing later were placed closer.
There were cases in which a plane spent as long as 15 to 20 minutes only to move from the parking lot to the runway, he said.
Bui Thanh Ha, head of the air traffic control department of Southern Region Air Traffic Services, blamed pilot skills as another factor leading to the delays.
The Vn Express report said that in the latest survey conducted at the airport, a Singapore Airlines plane left the runway in 60 seconds after landing, while Vietnamese pilots needed nearly 70 seconds.
Ha said that during takeoff, air traffic controllers have to calculate to save every second but Vietnamese pilots still spend 10 to 15 seconds more on average to start moving.
"It is clear that our pilots do not have an awareness of saving time," he said.
Vietnam Airlines Deputy General Director Trinh Hong Quang blamed its flight delays on the market bouncing back "beyond all forecasts" and that carriers were not prepared for such a boom in travel demand.
CAAV head Dinh Viet Thang said each airport now has to come up with a specific set of rules to deal with runway occupation.
At Tan Son Nhat and Hanoi's Noi Bai airport, he said pilots must make sure they leave the runway within 60 seconds after landing, and take off within 30 seconds.
Thang said that as the infrastructure remains limited, CAAV would have to reduce flight numbers, pointing out that similar actions were taken to deal with the travel boom in other countries.
"It is very hard to accept the fact that a flight from HCMC to Cam Ranh airport in Khanh Hoa took only 45 minutes but passengers have to wait several hours," he said.
The Ministry of Transport had said that the increase in flight delays has triggered public outcry among passengers and damaged the industry's reputation.
In the first six months of the year, the number of passengers in domestic airports reached 40.7 million, up 56 per cent compared to the same period last year. Around 1.8 million were international passengers, up 904 per cent.
The CAAV has forecasted that airports in Vietnam would serve about 87.8 million passengers this year, including five million foreigners, jumping 190 per cent from last year.