VietNamNet Bridge – Many passengers are complaining about delayed flights while carriers and authorities are attempting to claim they are not responsible for the problems.

Passengers waiting for their flights

Vietnam Airlines passenger Nguyen Huyen had her HCM City to Hanoi flight on July 26 delayed twice, including an initial wait of 40 minutes.

Nguyen Ngoc Tu, a tourist in Danang said, "We received three delays. We had to change our holiday plan each time too."

Le Manh Hung, general director of Airports Corporation of Vietnam, said carriers should take some responsibility. "Everything would go smoothly if carriers followed the schedule. But due to some operational problems, the planes can arrive at airport later than scheduled and this has a knock-on effect and causes congestion."

According to the Civil Aviation Authority since early July, one in five scheduled flights were delayed, 69.8% of which were caused by the late arrival of previous planes.

A Vietnam Airlines representative said demand during peak season was very high so carriers had to increase the number of flights. This led to delays at airports as planes taxied on the runways awaiting their flights, which had knock-on effects on arrivals.

Capacity at the country’s airports has also suffered from unexpected maintenance. A runway at HCM City's Tan Son Nhat Airport was shut down for repair after being damaged by lightning. Bad weather has also been blamed for delayed flights.

Carriers are not obliged to offer compensation if delays and cancellations are caused by poor airport facilities or bad weather.

DTriNews