Vinh airport runway cracked, many flights canceled

Đường băng sân bay Vinh nứt vỡ, nhiều chuyến bay bị hủy - Ảnh 1.

Specifically, Vietnam Airlines canceled flights VN1264, VN1265, VN1268, VN1269, VN1266, VN1267 between Ho Chi Minh City and Vinh; Hanoi - Vinh route had 2 flights VN1717, VN1718 canceled. In addition, this morning, flight VN1261 Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City was not allowed to take off and returned to the parking lot; flight VN1262 Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh changed direction to land at Tho Xuan airport, Thanh Hoa.

A representative of Vietnam Airlines said that the airline has arranged for passengers connecting to Melbourne, Australia to travel by road from Vinh to Tho Xuan to take the Tho Xuan, Thanh Hoa flight to Ho Chi Minh City, ensuring on-time flights from Ho Chi Minh City to Melbourne, Australia. In addition, the airline also supports rebooking tickets for passengers who want to change flight dates and times, board other flights and support road travel.

The airline also apologized and asked passengers to sympathize with the inconvenience caused by force majeure, and recommended that passengers planning to arrive or depart from Vinh airport regularly monitor and update information from Vietnam Airlines.

Confirming the information, a representative of Vinh International Airport said that after 4 flights took off/landed this morning (March 7), the runway at Vinh airport suddenly encountered an incident. A large piece of the surface asphalt concrete layer peeled off. The initial cause was determined to be that the surface asphalt concrete layer lost adhesion to the cement concrete layer below, leading to peeling off.

The Port is currently urgently implementing a solution to remove the layer and re-lay another layer. During this time, airlines operating flights at Vinh airport have temporarily suspended operations. The troubleshooting is expected to be completed today.

After being upgraded in 2018, Vinh International Airport attracted 6 airlines and operated 9 routes. However, because the current runway is only 2.4 km long, it can only accommodate A320/A321 aircraft or equivalent, with a capacity of only 150 to 250 passengers/flight; serving only 4 take-offs/landings per hour, so it is not really effective.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, Vinh airport had reached its limit and was overloaded when in 2019 it served 13,947 takeoffs and landings; in 2020 it served 14,027 takeoffs and landings, with a total of 4 million passengers in 2 years.

Earlier this year, the Standing Committee of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee passed a Resolution to submit to the Prime Minister for approval of the Project on socialization of investment and exploitation of Vinh International Airport until 2030. According to this Project, Vinh International Airport will increase its capacity from 7 to 8 million passengers by 2030.

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