Passengers arrive at Noi Bai Airport
Two planes from Germany and the UK which carried 509 passengers in total and were supposed to land in Noi Bai were redirected to Van Don Airport. All of the passengers are Vietnamese nationals and have been quarantined.
Noi Bai Airport said 12 flights were scheduled to land on March 23. But as of 9 am, six flights were cancelled and two flights from Germany and the UK were directed to Van Don. Most of the flights only have 10-15 passengers, some lacked passengers entirely. It's likely that more flights will be cancelled in the future.
On March 22, Vietnam received 4,148 passengers. Noi Bai Airport also received 1,642 instead of the estimated 2,300 passengers as some flights were redirected to Van Don or cancelled.
Nearly 40 Vietnamese students in Dallas, US were waiting at the airport for a transit flight to Japan then Vietnam when they were told that the Japan-Vietnam flight had been cancelled. The students had tried to find other flights to return to Vietnam and called the embassy in the US and Japan for help.
Several airlines in Japan couldn't confirm whether they can resume the cancelled flights to Vietnam. Students were advised to switch to other transit points like the flights to Hong Kong. Consulate General of Vietnam in San Francisco had sent employees to help the students. Many of them have been able to switch flights.
Vietnam has suspended granting visas to passengers from all countries to Vietnam except special cases. Vietnamese airlines have suspended most international flights due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Vietnam Airlines has stopped flights to and from China, South Korea and other ASEAN countries. Starting from March 23, it will stop flights to and from Japan, UK and from March 24, Vietnam-Germany flights will be halted.
