Vietnam’s shocking airline record

Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam reports that during January to May this year, up to 25% of all flights operated by local airlines were delayed or cancelled, compared to 16% during the same period last year.
According to CAAV, Vietjet Air has the highest rate of delayed or cancelled flights at an astounding 51% of all its production, followed by Jetstar Pacific at 50%, VASCO with 17% and Vietnam Airlines with 14%.
It sends a clear message to consumers that Vietnam’s airlines are off the pace when it comes to providing convenient reliable services in the country.
The agency said inadequate infrastructure at airports caused delays, especially during peak hours.
According to a Vietjet Air report, up to 50% of its cancelled or delayed flights were caused by problems related to landing and take offs, which is stating the obvious.
When night flights were cancelled or delayed, many passengers were forced to spend the night at airports.
CAAV also blamed delays on technical problems such as bird strikes and weather, staff and passenger problems, airlines’ lack of capacity to accommodate peak travel demand and commercial reasons.
The agency noted passengers blamed low-cost carriers for failing to provide satisfactory explanations or solutions. In addition, airlines failed to assign staff to explain why flights were delayed.
Airlines were accused of being poor problem solvers, as they often informed passengers about delays or cancellation at the last possible minute, and repeatedly changed flight times which annoyed their customers.
CAAV director, Lai Xuan Thanh, said the agency will publish flight delays and cancellation information every month to shame airlines to improve their performance.
In the first half of 2014, the Vietnam aviation industry carried 16.3 million passengers, an increase of 13.2% compared to the same period in 2013.
Vietnam’s airports handled at 24.7 million passengers, up 15%.
The current fleet of Vietnam’s airlines stands at 102 planes with an average age of 6.2 years.
In the first half of this year, three local carriers, Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific and Vietjet Air had a flight production of 61,660, 14,495 and 7,180, respectively.

Sourced: ttrweekly