Airports throughout the country have served more than 50.5 million passengers and handled 905,000 tonnes of goods in 2014, year-on-year increases of 14.7 percent and 18 percent, respectively, said Lai Xuan Thanh, Head of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV).

Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi.

Good sign was seen in the domestic market with estimated total passengers of 17.5 million, rising 20.5 percent against last year. The rate of delayed and canceled flights declined sharply and accounted for 19.3 percent of total flights for the year.

Vietnam’s aviation sector has coordinated with relevant parties to operate more than 542,000 flights throughout the year without any accident.

On the other hand, the number of incidents relating to aviation safety increased by a staggering 177 percent compared to 2013. One of the most serious incidents was the first-ever 35-minute power outage at the Ho Chi Minh City Area Control Centre (ACC/HCM), which disabled the radar system controlling air traffic and affected at least 54 flights that were within the city’s flight information region (FIR) on November 20.

In the coming time, the sector plans to boost its implementation of a national programme on air traffic safety in a bid to address the current problems.

VNA/VNN