After the COVID-19 outbreak was controlled in Vietnam, in the online meeting of the Government in April, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc emphasized that the restoration of production and business activities to revive the nation's economy was a top priority.
As the economy is gradually returning to the trajectory, and many businesses have started to operate again, the demand to move across the country, especially in major economic centers, is increasing. On the other hand, the needs for tourism, and visiting relatives of people are also on the rise after the period of maintaining social distance.
With this favorable situation, the Aviation Administration of Vietnam has proposed the Ministry of Transport (MOT) to allow the increase in the frequency of main routes from May 5, 2020, specifically: 52 round trips / day for Hanoi - TP. Ho Chi Minh route; and 20 round trips / day for each route between Hanoi / TP. Ho Chi Minh - Da Nang.
Previously, within 15 days of the national social distancing, although the transportation system was almost cut off between regions, the routes between Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi / Ho Chi Minh City and Da Nang was still maintained, showing the importance of connecting the major economic centers of the country.
From June 1, 2020, carriers will resume normal domestic flights according to the licensed summer flight schedule, and operate international cargo flights. The CAAV forecasts that after the Government allows passenger transportation to return to normal, domestic airlines will only need about 1 month to basically restore the entire domestic flight network to meet the peak season demand.
Mr. Le Quang Tung, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism said that, besides the economic significance, flight operation also brought back the confidence that Vietnam had become a safe destination in the eyes of international friends.
It is believed that, during this COVID-19 pandemic, the aviation industry is one of the most heavily affected sectors, suffering total loss of over VND 40,000 billion. Therefore, resumption of operations can show great effort of the airlines.
So far, all domestic airlines have quickly restored important domestic routes such as Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City route, and routes from Hanoi / Ho Chi Minh City to other provinces and cities. At the same time, airlines also continue to increase number of flights to major tourist cities to serve the increasing tourism and trade needs of people after a long period of social distancing.
In order to stimulate tourism, after the epidemic was controlled, the airlines have launched support packages with products such as flight cards and combos with many unprecedented attractive incentives to meet the travel needs of passengers.
On the other hand, to ensure the health of passengers, during this period, flights are still strictly controlled according to the highest standards of the authorities. Passengers are given body temperature and medical clearance before the flight, and masks during the flight. Carriers said they would continue to disinfect aircrafts in accordance with the regulations of the CAAV.
Currently, many domestic airlines are putting their expectations on the V-shaped recovery model, which means airlines have passed the "peak of epidemic" and started developing again, which is a factor promoting economic recovery through trade, investment, and tourism activities.
A positive signal shows that, after the aviation industry was restarted, air transport output has increased sharply compared to the period of social distancing. In late April and early May, the number of passengers passing through the ports reached more than 15,000 passengers while that on the lowest day was just over 1,000 passengers, an increase of 15 times. From April 30 to May 3, carriers transported more than 150,000 passengers on domestic flights.
>> Aviation recovers
Source: enternews.vn
