"Flight delays and cancellations are not what airline leaders and airlines want."

(Dan Tri) - According to Minister Tran Hong Minh, aviation industry leaders and airlines do not want flight delays or cancellations to occur, but the law must be specific so that this situation will no longer occur.

Discussing in the hall about the draft revised Law on Civil Aviation of Vietnam on the afternoon of November 12, many National Assembly delegates raised the issue of the airline's responsibility to customers when there is a flight delay, flight cancellation, refusal to transport and compensation responsibility.

Delegate Huynh Thi Phuc (HCMC) said that the regulations on the responsibilities of airlines when flights are delayed or canceled are still general. “If there are no binding mechanisms and specific sanctions, the rights of passengers will still be in limbo,” said Ms. Phuc.

National Assembly Delegate Huynh Thi Phuc (Photo: Hong Phong).

The female delegate proposed that the draft law stipulate that this flight delay or postponement should be "no more than two times"; airlines must publicly disclose the reasons for the delay, postponement, or cancellation and the expected time to fix it.

In case of force majeure due to weather and technical reasons, "it must be accepted and the number of times is unlimited".

Along with that, delegate Phuc said that it is necessary to clearly stipulate the time limit for ticket refunds in the direction of a maximum of 7 working days from the date of receiving a valid request. Because in reality, passengers have to wait a long time to receive a refund.

She also requested the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to periodically announce the performance indicators of each airline such as: on-time refund rate, complaint settlement rate.

“The purpose of publicity is not to create pressure, but to form a positive competitive mechanism, helping passengers have transparent information when choosing services,” said the female delegate from Ho Chi Minh City.

Sharing the same concern, delegate Nguyen Tam Hung (HCMC) proposed adding a new clause in which passengers have the right to choose between a full refund of the unused portion; switching to the earliest flight of the airline or switching to another airline with equivalent seats without having to pay extra costs, if the airline cannot arrange a replacement flight within 3 hours.

National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Tam Hung (Photo: Hong Phong).

The delegate also proposed a law recognizing the right to "minimum care" including: food, drinking water, means of communication, overnight accommodation if necessary, linked to each slow threshold.

In addition, the delegation of Ho Chi Minh City proposed not to consider "technical reasons for exploitation and operation" as force majeure.

Explaining these contents, Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh said that in the first 9 months of 2025, the rate of flights taking off and landing on time was only 65%. The reasons were due to weather, aircraft shortage, broken supply chain of spare parts, limited aviation infrastructure conditions, high operating density...

Minister of Construction Tran Hong Minh (Photo: Hong Phong).

Citing the example of a flight into Tan Son Nhat airport with no landing strip, having to wait 15 minutes, or even fly for an hour in the sky, the Minister of Construction said that in addition to causing environmental pollution and wasting fuel costs, airlines are also "very impatient".

He said that this draft revised law has added more stringent regulations on airlines' responsibilities when flights are delayed or canceled to ensure passengers' rights.

“The aviation industry leaders and airlines do not want flight delays or cancellations, but the law must be specific so that when airports are fully equipped, this situation will no longer occur,” the Commander of the Construction Industry emphasized.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/thoi-su/cham-huy-chuyen-bay-lanh-dao-hang-khong-va-hang-bay-deu-khong-muon-20251112192912637.htm