Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC on January 9 announced plans to better serve passengers during the peak travel season of the upcoming Tet holiday, Thanh Nien Online newspaper reported.

Tan Son Nhat International Airport has announced plans to better serve passengers during the peak travel season of the upcoming Tet holiday. In this file photo, passengers are waiting at the airport

Nearly 4,000 extra flights will be added by three local carriers -- Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet and Jetstar Pacific. Also, the flight frequency of local carriers is expected to increase by 10%, with at least 800 daily flights on average, compared with the 2018 Tet holiday.

In addition, the airport added some 800 waiting chairs for passengers at domestic and international gates, as well as lengthened and added more conveyor belts and check-in counters. During peak travel times, some stores in the airport will temporarily shut down to make room for a rising number of passengers. It will also order a temporary suspension of repair and maintenance works 15 days prior to and 10 days after Tet.

Since early December last year, the airport has purchased more backup equipment for the technical system, replaced broken-down devices with new ones and completed routine maintenance of the flight information display system, air-conditioners, cameras and other machinery.

Simultaneously, all of the staff members at the airport specializing in customer service, public security, security screening and checks will be mobilized to serve the peak travel season of Tet.

Moreover, the “Airway Safety and Security Month” program is scheduled to kick off between January 1 and February 19 this year at the airport, ensuring all equipment and human resources are available to guarantee traffic safety at the airport’s apron.

Besides this, an airport representative advised passengers taking domestic flights to arrive at the airport two hours prior to their departure time and three hours in advance for international flights. They should not bring too many family members to the airport seeing them off and should avoid arriving too early to avoid passenger overload in public areas of the airport.

According to Airports Corporation of Vietnam, the airport will open an additional 37 aircraft parking slots and one taxiway before Tet, raising the number of parking positions to 83, helping reduce traffic congestion, which causes delays and cancelations at the airport.

SGT