Vietnam plans to resume nine international air routes from December 15, according to the latest proposal of the Ministry of Transport (MoT) recently submitted to the Prime Minister.

Vietnam plans to resume international commercial flights from December 15. Photo: Vietnam Airlines

The ministry proposed a pilot resumption plan which will be conducted in two phases.

The first phase is expected to start from December 15 and last for two weeks.

Regular flights will be relaunched between Vietnam and nine safe markets including Beijing (China), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (South Korea), Taipei (Taiwan (China)), Bangkok (Thailand), Singapore, Vientiane (Laos), Phnom Penh (Cambodia), San Francisco/Los Angeles (the US).

These markets are considered as the most important ones in terms of political and economic cooperation with Vietnam, where a huge number of foreign investors, experts, and high-tech workers wish to seek business investment opportunities and work in the Southeast Asian country.

In addition, there are large communities of Vietnamese citizens living, studying, and working in these countries and territories who want to return to the homeland for the upcoming New Year and Lunar New Year holidays.

In the first phase, there will be four one-way flights per week to each destination with a total number of arrivals to Vietnam of up to 28,000. Hanoi’s Noi Bai and Ho Chi Minh City’s Tan Son Nhat airports will be allowed to operate in this phase.

The second phase will start from January 1 2022 and last for one month.

In addition to nine markets in the first phase, in the second phase, the international air route network is expected to include connections to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Hong Kong, Paris (France), Frankfurt (Germany), Sidney (Australia), Moscow (Russia).

Besides Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat, airports of Danang, Cam Ranh (Khanh Hoa), Phu Quoc (Kien Giang), Van Don (Quang Ninh) will be allowed to operate the international flights.

The weekly frequency will be increased to up to seven one-way flights for each airline to bring in around 40,000 passengers per week.

During the pilot plan, the ministry will conduct a review and assessment, then advise the government on the restoration of regular international operations, according to the document signed by Deputy Minister of Transport Le Anh Tuan.

Tuan suggested isolation regulations need to be lifted soon for passengers who have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19 or have recovered from the disease and those having negative test results for SARS-CoV-2 within 72 hours prior to the flight.

The Ministry of Health would be in charge of guiding quarantine exemption protocol for people entering Vietnam. 

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs will negotiate the mutual recognition of “vaccine passports” with countries and territories, with priority given to markets proposed in the pilot plan.

Vietnam has switched its Covid-19 response strategy to safely and flexibly adapting to the disease so that socio-economic and tourism activities can be restored soon.