Airlines warned unutilized airport flight slots would be seized

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) requires airlines to keep the rate of unused slots below 20 percent, but low-cost carrier Pacific Airlines had a rate of 38.4 percent during the two weeks from March 28 to April 11 at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC, while newbie Vietravel Airlines had a ratio of 23.8 percent.

At Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi, Vietnam Air Services Company, a subsidiary of Vietnam Airlines, has 33.3 percent of its slots unused.

Flight slots that are unused for five weeks in a row would be taken away, CAAV has warned.

It has also seized unused slots from foreign carriers and distributed them to domestic airlines since international services are still suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tan Son Nhat has 984 flight slots a day and Noi Bai has 708.