VietNamNet Bridge - The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has suspended the Director of the Central Region Air Control Center after the planes of Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific nearly collided at the Da Nang International Airport on June 27.

The CAAV said it seriously threatened flight safety. "If it was not detected and handled promptly, it could have led to an accident," the agency said.

On June 27, at Da Nang International Airport, an apprentice allowed an aircraft of Jetstar Pacific to take off while another aircraft of Vietnam Airlines was not off the runway yet.

Investigations showed that before issuing the takeoff command, the air traffic controller did not observe the runway where the aircraft of Vietnam Airlines had just landed and had not moved from the runway yet.

It was reported that the air traffic controller was a trainee and she did not have relevant certificates.

The Central Region Air Control Company allowed an apprentice to control air traffic and it was a violation of the regulations on flight activities, the investigative report said.

In addition, the pilot of the Vietnam Airlines airplane did not follow the requirement to report flight incidents within 72 hours from the time of occurrence.

Due to these errors, the CAAV has suspended the Director of the Central Region Air Traffic Control Company for 15 days.

The chief air traffic controler of that day had his certificate and licence revoked, while the female apprentice will not be licensed for at least a year for further training.

9 people disciplined for VietJet aircraft landing at wrong airport

Nine officers have been punished by Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration (CAAV) in the case of the VietJet aircraft landing at the wrong airport.

Specifically, captain Pavel Ondrej, vice captain Amin Hassiri and chief stewardess Phan Thi Huong Trang on the flight had their licenses revoked for 30 days.

Director of the Vietjet Air Flight Operations Center Elvis Gilbert was also suspended until August 1 for re-training.

The officers who were suspended also include several employees of the Noi Bai Airport and an air traffic controller.

In addition, the CAAV reprimanded the Vietnam Airport Corporation, the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation and the Northern Airport Authority.

The rare aviation incident took place on June 20. According to an investigation, there were two flights from Hanoi to Cam Ranh and Hanoi to DaLat that were scheduled very near each other, with the same number of passengers.

Because the aircraft had technical malfunctions, Vietjet Air had to change the aircraft and the flight schedule.

All related agencies were informed of the change except for the captain of the flight. Thus, the passengers of Hanoi to Da Lat flights had boarded but the captain drove the plane to Cam Ranh, following the old plan.

Minister of Transport Dinh La Thang apologized to the public and passengers for the incident and strictly punished the related individuals and agencies.

Le Ha