Flights unable to land due to thick fog at northern airports

Many flights to the northern and northern central regions have been unable to land due to thick fog which affected visibility on Thursday evening.

According to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), many flights could not land at Hanoi's Noi Bai, Haiphong's Cat Bi and Nghe An's Vinh airports on the evening of February 17. In Van Don Airport in Quang Ninh Province, only a few flights managed to land late in the evening.

"Some 30 flights, both domestic and international, had to switch to land in some airports in the central provinces of Hue and Danang," CAAV said. "A flight from Japan decided to return to Japan after being unable to make a landing at Noi Bai airport."

At Noi Bai Airport, the visibility was just between 700-800 metres at 10 pm on Thursday. It was reported that 11 flights that were scheduled to land at Noi Bat between 8 pm -10.30 pm had to be switched to other airports due to bad weather.

"With low visibility at Noi Bai Airport, we could only conduct taking-offs while it was not safe for landings," CAAV said. "However, strong winds blew the fog clear at Van Don Airport, making it possible for some flights to land late at night."

CAAV had to cancel some international flights departing from Noi Bai Airport due to a lack of planes after many flights were unable to land.