Vietnam’s recent domestic travel boom has made the route between Saigon and Hanoi one of the world's busiest.
With more than 4.1 million passengers traveling between the two cities this year, the Saigon-Hanoi route is ranked seventh busiest worldwide by OAG, an air travel intelligence company based in the United Kingdom.
According to VnExpress, the Saigon-Hanoi route accounts for roughly 35% of the country’s air traffic. However, due to the rising number of passengers traveling between the two cities – and the country’s increase in air travel in general – Saigon’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport has fast become overcrowded. Though the airport’s capacity is only 25 million passengers, Tan Son Nhat has reportedly received more than 31 million passengers this year.
Lai Xuan Thanh, director of the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam, told VnExpress the airport’s limited capacity has resulted in many instances in which dozens of aircraft are forced to wait, flying around for an additional 15-60 minutes waiting for a runway to become available.
As domestic carriers plan to expand to meet rising demand in the travel market, this situation is likely to get worse, Thanh told the news outlet.
Together, Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific and VietJet Air raised the total number of aircrafts in the country to 141 at the end of last quarter, a 50% increase from five years ago. This figure is expected to increase again to 263 by 2020. Add to the rapid growth of Vietnam's existing airlines the introduction of Vietstar, a recently founded airline that is still awaiting its license to fly, and the problem gets worse.
Beyond the bustling Saigon-Hanoi route, VnExpress also reports that Vietnam’s aviation market is the third fastest-growing in the Asia-Pacific region. In order to manage and control overcrowded airports while still expanding the local market, local authorities are considering putting a cap on the number of new planes local airlines can buy while also increasing the number of nighttime flights.
In 2016, Vietnam’s airports received a total of 52.2 million passengers, including international arrivals.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Jeju-Seoul route – the world’s busiest air route, according to OAG – is also in the Asia-Pacific region.
[Photo via Phong Ban Ve]
