Vietnam only allows passengers to fill a maximum of 80% of the seats on an airplane.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) has just implemented the Ministry of Transport's (MOT) guidelines on passenger distancing on aircraft to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control. To ensure safe transportation operations and minimize the risk of COVID-19 infection for flight crews, cabin crew, service personnel, and passengers, the CAAV requires Vietnamese airlines to strictly comply with Prime Minister's Directive 19/CT-TTg and other directives and guidelines from the Ministry of Transport on measures to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control.

The Civil Aviation Authority requires Vietnamese airlines to inform passengers about the health declaration procedure using the Health Declaration Form issued by the Ministry of Health. A health declaration should only be completed if electronic health declaration is not possible.

Passenger seating arrangements in economy class must strictly adhere to the Ministry of Transport's directives, ensuring passengers are seated one seat apart. However, for business class passengers (with separate partitions) and groups of passengers who are family members, friends, colleagues from the same company or organization, part of the same tour group, or sharing the same booking code on the flight, one seat spacing is not required. "In all cases, Vietnamese airlines are not allowed to fill more than 80% of the total seats on the aircraft," the Civil Aviation Authority affirmed.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) requests Vietnamese airlines to inform passengers and encourage them to check in from home to facilitate proactive electronic declarations before arriving at the airport, thereby reducing waiting times for check-in procedures; to continue strictly implementing measures to ensure COVID-19 prevention and control; to complete health declarations, always wear masks correctly; to frequently wash hands with soap or disinfectant; to check body temperature; to limit interaction and eating on board; and to regularly disinfect surfaces. The CAAV requests regional airport authorities to coordinate and closely monitor the implementation of these measures.

Previously, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) sent an urgent document to the Ministry of Transport requesting permission to increase flight frequencies on domestic routes and remove social distancing requirements on flights during the April 30th holiday. According to the CAAV, in recent times, flights have been implementing social distancing requirements, with passengers seated one row apart, resulting in airlines only achieving a maximum of 66% of their available seats. The CAAV recommended that the Ministry of Transport consider allowing airlines to discontinue social distancing measures and transport passengers according to the aircraft's configuration.

However, the Ministry of Transport, in a document dated April 28th, allowed an increase in the frequency of domestic flights from April 29th, but still required passengers to be seated with social distancing measures in place, ensuring a distance of at least one seat or 1 meter between passengers.

My Tong