There are only 4 days left until the resumption of international flights to Vietnam. Of the 9 international routes scheduled to reopen from January 1, 2022, only 2 routes to the US and Japan have completed negotiations and started selling tickets. The remaining 7 routes have not yet been negotiated.
While negotiations to resume flights with other countries are still facing difficulties, Vietnam received information about the first case of infection with the Omicron variant detected in Hanoi.
Local policies create obstacles
On the morning of December 28, authorities announced the first case of infection with the Omicron variant in Vietnam. This patient entered Hanoi from the UK on December 19 and was quarantined at the 108 Military Hospital immediately after entering the country.
A day earlier, the Hanoi People's Committee issued a document requiring passengers arriving from countries with the Omicron variant to be quarantined, regardless of whether they have been vaccinated or have previously contracted Covid-19. This is considered a stricter measure than the Ministry of Health's guidance. In the guidance document, effective from January 1, 2022, the ministry only requires entrants who have received the full dose of vaccine to monitor their health at home for 3 days.
In Ho Chi Minh City, local health authorities require airlines to provide a list of entrants for each flight to the international health quarantine department at the border gate at least 24 hours before entry, with full information on the address of residence and stay in Vietnam to be sent to the locality to prepare for receiving and monitoring entrants according to regulations.
The fact that the Omicron variant case entered Vietnam but was promptly quarantined shows that localities have reasons to be "strict" in managing and requiring centralized quarantine for people returning from countries with the Omicron variant. However, for the Ministry of Transport's plan to reopen international flights, local policies are creating obstacles.
In a report sent to the Ministry of Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority said that the new regulations of Hanoi City are not consistent with the Ministry of Health's guidelines for managing immigrants, and are different from the contents that the Civil Aviation Authority has announced to its partners. This new regulation requires the authority to discuss with all countries/territories, affecting the plan to restore regular international flights to Hanoi.
Regarding the request of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Health, the Civil Aviation Authority also said that this request would cause difficulties and would be unfeasible in implementing the plan to operate regular international flights.
According to the plan to restore international flights, phase 1 from January 1, 2022, Vietnam will open 9 routes to Beijing/Guangzhou, Tokyo, Seoul, Taipei, Bangkok, Singapore, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, San Francisco/Los Angeles. According to the report of the Civil Aviation Authority, all of the above destinations have recorded the Omicron variant. If Hanoi's regulations are applied, international flights will not be able to operate according to the criteria of limiting quarantine and safe adaptation.
With only four days left until the resumption of international flights, a representative of Vietnam Airlines said the Civil Aviation Authority has just granted slots for two routes to Japan and the US. The airline has started selling tickets for these two routes. Tickets for the remaining seven routes are still unavailable due to the lack of negotiations with the host country.
Priority should be given to Vietnamese people returning home.
Aviation experts say the Omicron variant is still controversial in the world, so Vietnam needs to be cautious. However, experience shows that Vietnam has been very strict in preventing the delta variant, but this variant still penetrates. Many countries are also very strict but still cannot prevent Omicron. Medical experts in Vietnam assess that preventing Omicron from penetrating is an impossible goal.
Recently, due to the fact that international flights have not yet reopened, Vietnamese people abroad have had to choose rescue flights or combo flights of Vietnamese airlines with expensive ticket prices, up to 80-150 million VND for flights from Europe/America to Vietnam.
In that context, many flights of Singapore Airlines and Turkish Airlines still landed at Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat. Each flight only carried a few dozen passengers who had entry permits. The second priority group after overseas Vietnamese were foreigners who wanted to come to Vietnam for a short time to invest in business.
More information:
December 28 - The Ministry of Health reported the first case of infection with the Omicron variant recorded in Vietnam. According to Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Truong Son, information from the Vietnam Infectious Disease Surveillance System and a preliminary report from the 108 Military Central Hospital (Vietnam-Germany Medical Research Center) identified the first case of Omicron infection.
