It has become the sixth airport in Vietnam to receive the Airports Council International’s accreditation, a program that supports airports around the world with introducing preventive hygiene, health and safety measures against the pandemic, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam stated.
Da Nang, Noi Bai, Tan Son Nhat, Cam Ranh and Phu Quoc airports were granted the same accreditation earlier.
The ACI evaluates cleaning and disinfection procedures, physical distancing, staff protection, physical layout, passenger communication, and passenger facilities for the certification, which has a validity of 12 months.
Van Don, inaugurated in December 2018, is 50 kilometers from Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO-recognized world heritage site.
Since the pandemic broke out in January 2020, the airport has adopted a number of preventive measures by requiring all passengers to wear masks, installing a thermal sensor to check their temperature and disinfecting all airplanes.
From February 2020 to September 2021, it welcomed 232 flights carrying 46,722 passengers from different countries.
In September, Van Don airport welcomed several flights with vaccine passport holders on a trial basis, allowing hundreds of Vietnamese from the U.S., France and Japan to return to Vietnam. All passengers were fully vaccinated, in good health and had coronavirus negative results from tests done within 72 hours before their flights.
Quang Ninh is one of five localities given the green light to welcome foreign tourists starting November along with Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam and Da Nang.