Vietnam Aviation: Ensuring safety is the driving force for growth

It is expected that by 2025, the number of passengers and cargo in the aviation sector will have double-digit growth thanks to the increasing demand for safe air travel and the opening of many international routes. It is forecasted that 2026 will be a year with many growth drivers for the Vietnamese aviation industry.

11 months of safe transport of nearly 70 million passengers

According to statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, in the past 11 months of this year, the total passenger market reached 69.3 million passengers and 1.2 million tons of cargo, an increase of 10.8% in passengers and 18.5% in cargo respectively compared to the same period in 2024 (first 10 months of 2024).

The Civil Aviation Authority also forecasts that by 2025, Vietnam's air transport market will reach about 84 million passengers and 1.4 million tons of cargo, an increase of 11.4% in passengers and 18% in cargo compared to 2024.

Passengers check in using VNeID electronic authentication.

Mr. Uong Viet Dung, Director of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, said that the increasing demand for air travel and the effective implementation of exchanges and cooperation in international aviation exploitation to support airlines in the process of carrying out exploitation activities have also contributed to the positive results of air transport in 2025.

Affirming that he has proactively and fully implemented tasks and solutions to ensure traffic safety, improve the quality of safety supervision, prevent risks and ensure absolute safety in civil aviation activities, according to Mr. Dung, in the 11-month period of 2025, no aviation accidents will occur, safety supervision work will be maintained continuously, and the culture of safety reporting will be significantly improved.

In addition, the Aviation Safety Risk Assessment Council of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam operates regularly, closely monitoring factors affecting aviation safety, identifying potential risks that threaten safety such as the impact of the lack of PW1100 engines on the Airbus A320/1NEO fleet, disruptions in the global supply chain, the transportation of equipment containing lithium batteries on aircraft... to promptly issue Directives and solutions to improve safety, as well as implement solutions to ensure safety.

To prepare for the operation of Long Thanh International Airport, the Civil Aviation Authority shall preside over and report on the plan for dividing the operations between Long Thanh International Airport and Tan Son Nhat; coordinate and deploy with agencies and units on the preparation for the technical flight at Long Thanh International Airport on December 19, 2025 and deploy documents to the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation to notify aviation information to serve the operation of this airport.

In addition, the Civil Aviation Authority will coordinate with units to evaluate and initially design airspace and flight methods to announce the planning and implementation of the Gia Binh Airport Project, the Phu Quoc, Vinh and Phu Cat Airport expansion projects. 2026 is forecast to be a year with many growth drivers for the aviation industry. With the GDP growth target of 10% or more in 2026 approved by the National Assembly, it will create an important macroeconomic boost.

The demand for air travel is increasing.

While safety measures for the aviation industry are being tightened, the Tet ticket market seems to be heating up. Although there is still more than a month to go until the New Year holiday and more than two months to go until the 2026 Lunar New Year holiday, many passengers have already joined the race to "hunt" for Tet tickets.

At this time, airlines have increased the number of seats by nearly 20% and opened sales very early, the "ticket fever" for Tet this year is still exploding faster than every year. Through research, it is known that Vietnam Airlines Group (including Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines and VASCO) has launched more than 3.5 million seats for the 2026 Tet season, an increase of about 20% over the same period. Vietjet Air also opened early sales of 2.5 million tickets.

A survey of ticket prices on airlines' websites for the journey from February 12 to February 25, 2026 (December 24 to January 9) shows that many peak routes are sold out or have increased in price. Specifically, flight prices for Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi , Thanh Hoa, Quang Tri, Hai Phong... are all high, the lowest reaching 7 - 7.5 million VND/round-trip ticket, the rest are all higher depending on the time and airline.

For the Ho Chi Minh City - Hanoi route on February 14, 2026 (December 27), Vietjet's lowest price is 3.3 million VND/way, commonly around 3.7 million VND/way. Records on ticket sales platforms for Tet flights show that during the peak before and after Tet, demand increases sharply, low-priced tickets are almost gone, only mainly high-priced tickets remain.

Ms. Ngoc Lan, an airline ticket agent in Hanoi, shared: Flights in the morning, evening or close to Tet always have higher prices than flights with different dates, different times or mid-week flights. Not to mention the cost of checking in luggage, choosing seats or changing or refunding tickets also makes the actual price increase. Therefore, passengers who need to travel should have a plan to book early.

“In addition to ticket prices, passengers need to pay attention to additional fees and baggage regulations. This year, the control of carry-on baggage at the airport will be very strict. Passengers should buy checked baggage in advance to avoid high fees at the boarding gate,” Ms. Ngoc Lan added.

From December 1, check-in at the counter is only available for passengers with checked baggage and special guests.

According to information from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, from December 1, 2025, passengers will only be able to check in at the counter when they have checked baggage and are special passengers (elderly people, children traveling alone or people needing assistance) at airports.

All passengers not included in the above list carry out the entire procedure (buying tickets, checking in, security check, boarding) through the biometric technology solution associated with VNeID electronic identification and authentication or at the self-service Kiosk system at the airport.

According to the instructions, passengers log in to VNeID with a level 2 identified account, select “Other Services”, then select “Airline Services” - this section currently only includes Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet. After choosing one of the two airlines, passengers continue with “Check-in online”.

After agreeing to share data, the system will transfer to the airline's application to complete the procedure and perform eKYC (electronic customer verification). When arriving at the airport, passengers only need to scan biometrics at the security gate and boarding gate. In case they have checked in but have not yet eKYC, the system will request additional information on VNeID to complete the process.

Previously, according to Directive No. 24/CT-TTg dated September 13, 2025 of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh on promoting the implementation of technological solutions to serve people and businesses associated with population data, electronic identification and authentication, the Ministry of Finance directed the Vietnam Airports Corporation to urgently complete the procedures for purchasing and investing in infrastructure and necessary equipment to ensure the progress of implementing solutions applying biometric technology associated with VNeID electronic identification and authentication to serve aviation procedures, completing according to the roadmap of Plan No. 380/KHPH-BCA-BXD-BTC dated June 24, 2025 between the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Construction, and the Ministry of Finance on implementing solutions applying identification, electronic authentication and biometric identification to serve boarding procedures.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/Giao-thong/hang-khong-viet-nam-bao-dam-an-toan-la-dong-luc-tang-truong-i789826/