Tan Son Nhat airport packed as Tet travel starts

[ASEAN NOW News]

The domestic terminal of HCMC's Tan Son Nhat Airport was packed on Thursday as people flocked back to their hometowns to celebrate Tet with loved ones, reported VN Express.

 

 

This was the scene at the domestic terminal Thursday afternoon with people waiting for their turn to complete check in procedures.

 

An unending line of cars could be seen at the airport entrance. Security personnel were kept terribly busy, constantly regulate the flow of vehicles.

 

 

The crowd was thick even at the terminal gates.

 

An area to make medical declarations was also crowded. All passengers must submit them after installing the PC-Covid app.

 

 

Those with symptoms like coughing, fever, muscle ache, sore throat or loss of taste are not allowed to fly.

 

Some passengers even took the extra precaution of wearing protective suits to prevent infection upon entering the airport.

 

A passenger waiting to check in his baggage on a flight to the north central province of Nghe An said,

"Normally I would only need to go to the airport two hours before the flight, but this morning I had to go even earlier. I've stood in line for nearly an hour to finish the procedures, but it's still not done."

 

All self-check-in machines, for passengers without checked baggage, were working at maximum capacity.

 

Ta Van Thinh, an airline employee, who instructs a customer on policies and regulations upon getting on flights explained, "Over the past week the airport has been full all the time, especially in the morning and the afternoon. Many passengers were confused and asked for help to be updated on the latest coronavirus prevention policies."

 

With Tet just days away, streets surrounding the airport like Hoang Van Thu, Cong Hoa and Truong Son have become crowded.

 

Around 706 flights flew from and to the airport Thursday, carrying around 63,000 passengers. The number of passengers is around half compared to the number recorded in the same period last year.

 

From January 23 to February 16, the aviation sector was expected to offer 2.85 million seats on 13,400 flights.

Given the high demand, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam recently decided to increase the number of seats to 3.2 million and the number of flights 15,300.

 

It has also requested carriers to increase the number of flights at night to help reduce congestion at airports.

 

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