HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho ChiMinh City will add flights, check-in counters and enhance airport securityduring the upcoming Tet holiday (Lunar New Year), which falls on January 25.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines along with Jetstar Pacific and AirServices Company (VASCO) will provide nearly 2.23 million seats equivalent to12,000 flights on domestic routes during the holiday period, a rise of 20 percent over the previous Lunar New Year holiday period.

Low-cost carrier Vietjet Air will provide nearly 2.5 million seats for bothdomestic and international flights, an equivalent increase of nearly 1,200flights during the holiday peak period.

Bamboo Airways will provide nearly 1 million seats on domestic flights, anincrease of nearly 700,000 seats or 3,600 flights compared to the previousholiday.

To meet passenger demand, the airport will lengthen baggage conveyor belts andadd more check-in counters at the domestic terminal.

Airlines began selling tickets for the Tet holiday earlier than in previousyears, resulting in significantly reduced ticket prices compared to last year’sholiday.

During the peak Tet holiday (from January 15 to February 10), there will beabout 820 flights departing and arriving at Tan Son Nhat every day, accordingto the Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV).

To deal with the overload, the Civil Aviation of Authority of Vietnam (CAAV)has recommended that airlines operate more flights at night (late at night ormidnight) to meet the increased travel demand during peak days.

Lai Xuan Thanh, Chairman of ACV’s Board of Directors, said that ACV is ready tooperate late flights at night at the request of CAAV at almost all airports(except for Con Dao, Dien Bien, Ca Mau and Rach Gia airports due to a lack ofrunway lighting systems).

“The biggest issue is a lack of human resources, because airline staff must beon duty 24/7,” he said.

According to Thanh, the pressure on Tan Son Nhat airport is to increase theslots for flights. The current capacity has reached 44 flights per hour duringpeak periods, and the figure is expected to rise to 46 under the direction fromCAAV.

Dinh Viet Thang, Director of CAAV, said along with the increase in the slots offlights, the capacity of the ground operation should be improved to quicklyrelease departing and arriving passengers.

By the end of this month, both Tan Son Nhat and Noi Bai airports will establishairport control centres which will work closely with airport service providersand State management agencies to improve operational capacity at the airports,according to Thang.

According to ACV, Tan Son Nhat airport has managed to increase the number ofaprons to a total of 86 (including six military aprons), during the peakperiod, a rise of 14 aprons compared to the holiday period last year.

In addition, the airport will use software for automatic parking allocation ofaircraft to maximise the use of parking positions.

It also plans to enhance security at the airport and improve the maintenance ofbaggage conveyors, communication systems, aircraft bridge systems, and securityscreening systems.

The Inspector of the Department of Transport said that from December 27 toFebruary 8 it would work with the airport authority and traffic police as wellas Tan Binh and Go Vap authorities to regulate traffic and handle trafficviolations at the airport area during the peak time.

Tan Son Nhat is expected to handle more than four million passengers during thepre- and post-Tet periods./.