A Vietnam Airlines plane is parked at the Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC. Flights between HCMC and Haiphong City will be suspended until the Covid-19 pandemic in the country is brought under control – PHOTO: LE ANH

HCMC – Flights between HCMC and Haiphong City will be suspended until the Covid-19 pandemic in the country is brought under control, the Ministry of Transport said on June 3.

The ministry told the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) to inform airlines and aviation service operators of the suspension.

Aside from Haiphong, the northern province of Quang Ninh also wrote to the ministry proposing suspending all flights leaving HCMC for the province’s Van Don airport, as the disease is raging in HCMC.

Apart from the suspension of a number of flights to/from HCMC due to the spike in Covid-19 cases in the city, between June 1 and 14, the ministry only allowed air carriers to operate a maximum of 63 daily flights to the HCMC's Tan Son Nhat airport on 16 domestic routes, down sharply from previously.

In April this year, CAAV issued a flight schedule for the Tan Son Nhat airport from March 28 to October 31, allowing the airport to handle 984 daily flights.