International flights to Vietnam have been suspended in order to develop more synchronised quarantine procedures and new facilities.
The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam confirmed that flights have been suspended as they wait for the guidance for quarantine procedures from the Ministry of Health. The problems are with paid quarantine facilities.
Hoang Minh Duc, deputy head of the Preventive Medicine Department said the decision was made after the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Health held a meeting to review the pilot flights from Seoul to Hanoi and HCM City. It is estimated that the synchronised and detailed procedures would be submitted to the National Steering Committee for Covid-19 Prevention and Control in the next three days.
The Ministry of Transport is gathering opinions from Hanoi and HCM City authorities about the flight schedules to review and allow more airlines to operate international flights in the future. There will be four flights a week to Hanoi and five flights to HCM City on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday by Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air.
The airlines must submit the estimated passenger list to the port authorities 12 hours before the estimated departure and the detailed passenger list 30 minutes before departure. The passengers must follow all preventive procedures.
Vietnamese passengers must have a valid passport and specific address in Vietnam for the quarantine period. Foreign passengers must have a visa, valid temporary residence card or written reply to the visa application and specific address in Vietnam. The passengers must all have a certificate that they have been tested negative to SARS-CoV-2.
Vietnam Airlines have launched Hanoi-Seoul flights on September 25 and Vietjet Air launched HCM City-Seoul flights on September 30. However, the procedures were carried out differently.
A dispute broke out on September 30 after 158 passengers arrived at Tan Son Nhat Airport from Incheon. According to the passengers, they refused to be quarantined at hotels because the fees had been increased from VND1.3m (USD56) to VND1.7m per (USD73) person per room.
This article was originally published in Dtinews