Hanoi (VNA) - Although “vaccine passports” are yet to becomeofficial, airlines are nonetheless preparing for the resumption ofinternational flights based on their introduction.

On March 25, a flight by national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines fromTaipei, Taiwan (China), landed at Da Nang International Airport. It was arepatriation flight bringing Vietnamese citizens home, which they had to payfor, and was a step towards the reopening of international commercial flightsafter they were suspended due to COVID-19.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, more repatriationflights will be conducted in the future. Priority in regular commercial flightsbringing stranded citizens home will be given to six countries: China, theRepublic of Korea, Japan, Taiwan (China), Laos, and Cambodia.

These air routes received approval for the resumption of flights lastSeptember, but implementation was delayed due to complicated developments ofthe pandemic.

The gradual reopening is expected to assist the aviation sector but manyproblems remain, including the promulgation of “vaccine passports” and the locationand cost of quarantine centres.

Dang Anh Tuan, head of Vietnam Airlines’ Communications and BrandingDepartment, believes “vaccine passports” may be rolled out swiftly in thecountry, as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) sent a letter tothe Prime Minister on the issue, which the Government leader then passed on to relevantagencies to consider. The PM also instructed accelerating the process for “vaccinepassports” at several recent meetings.

As Thailand has recently announced it will reopen to tourism in June orJuly, Vietnam may lose out to other markets if it is too late to the game.

At present, more than 70 countries have joined IATA’s Travel Passinitiative. This contains personal information and data on COVID-19 at placesof departure and destination, linked with government health portals.

The initiative may be piloted in specific areas, such as central DaNang city, to assess its safety, Tuan said.

Along with legal regulations, technology, infrastructure, and personnelare other challenges facing the introduction of “vaccine passports”, accordingto analysts./.