Noi Bai airport bolsters security for high weekend holiday traffic

On Thursday, at the E lobby of domestic terminal T1, check-in counters and security checks were constantly crowded, with an average waiting time of 20 minutes per passenger.

Airport director To Tu Ha said they received more than 78,600 passengers on 437 domestic flights on Thursday alone. During the Reunification Day and Labor Day on Friday and Saturday, this could go up to 80,000 passengers a day on over 500 flights, a 30 percent increase over an average day, and 40 percent more than the same period in 2019, he said.

To tackle the imminent increase in workload, the airport has added four scanners, taking the total to 22. Each scanner can scan up to 170 passengers an hour. Most of the passengers come between 7-8 a.m., meaning all scanners and employees are deployed then, said Le Thi Viet Ha, head of the security scanner team.

As part of Covid-19 safety measures, airport employees will instruct passengers to make medical declarations with the help of computers placed in the lobbies. Many passengers, mostly older people without smartphones, need help with the declarations.

Hand sanitizers have been placed in many convenient places and security staff insist that all passengers wear masks.

The Noi Bai Airport currently has 102 check-in counters at its T1 terminal that can receive 4,080 passengers an hour. The terminal itself can handle up to 22 flights an hour.