VietNamNet Bridge – The Northern Airports Authority has fined two staff members of the Noi Bai Airport Security Centre for not seriously obeying regulations when they allowed a woman listed on a no-fly list to board an Aeroflot plane, traveling from Hanoi to Moscow, on January 3.

Passengers queue at check-in counter of the Noi Bai International Airport. — VNA/VNS Huy Hung

They were fined VND4 million (US$88) each under Item 3, Article 15 of Government Decree 147, issued in 2013. Additionally, a member of the staff of Aeroflot – the Russian airlines - was also penalised the same amount.

The passenger, named Pham Thu Thuy, 36, of the northern province of Hai Duong’s Hai Tan Ward, was banned from flying between September 16, 2017 and March 15, 2018 by the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam (CAAV) because she quarreled with a passenger on another Aeroflot flight, traveling from Hanoi to Moscow last August.

After issuing the ban, the CAAV had asked Vietnamese airlines, and those which operate in Vietnam, to refuse to transport Thuy during this period. Airports have been required to tighten security monitoring to prevent Thuy from boarding flights.

However, she was still able to board a flight on January 3. The agency has asked Aeroflot to pay more attention, to avoid repeating such cases in the future.

To Tu Hung, deputy head of the CAAV’s Airport Security Office, told Tuoi tre (Youth) online newspaper that it had only issued an administrative fine, and the two staff members would be disciplined after the conclusion of the CAAV’s inspection to determine why the woman could slip through surveillance and board the plane. 

Source: VNS