Vietnam has no plan to reopen commercial flights in early 2021 as the Covid-19 situation is still complicated worldwide and it's unclear how effective vaccination will be.
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong made the announcement during a government press conference on socio-economic development, state budget for the new year, business environment improvement and national competitiveness on January 4.
Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment Tran Quoc Phuong speaks at the conference.
"The scale of vaccination programmes differ from country to country. There's not enough information to make sure that it will be safe to reopen commercial flights in 2021, especially for tourism," he said. "I can't tell the exact date and time yet."
He went on to say that in Vietnam reopened commercial flights for a short time but due to the complicated situation in 2020, the PM ordered to suspend all flight routes for further monitoring. The ministry has submitted reports to the PM about reopening the economy again and their utmost priority was to ensure public safety when Tet is near.
Talking about illegal border crossers, Phuong said it was a difficult task because many Vietnamese people overseas wanted to return to Vietnam for Tet and they would try multiple ways to enter the country.
"Related ministries and agencies will carry out research on reopening the economy on a suitable scale and submit the idea to the PM," he said.
The PM has asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to work with other agencies to work on the second support package for businesses and those affected by Covid-19 in 2021.
He said, "We have to carry out detailed research on this issue and work closely with locality authorities and agencies. We must also consider other aspects like implementation methods."