But do they play 'Hello Vietnam' on endless repeat while taxiing?
Dan Tri reports that Bamboo Airways, owned by real estate and resort giant FLC Group, had an on-time rate of 93.9% in the first 10 months of this year, the highest among Vietnam's five domestic airlines.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) recorded 14,378 Bamboo Airways flights during that time period, 13,495 of which were on time. The overall domestic airline on-time average rate was 85.7%. This figure fell 0.5% compared to the same period in 2018. The CAAV blamed overloaded airports and a lack of personnel capacity for the many delays and cancellations, while weather also impacted flight operations at times.
According to VnExpress, of the 267,548 flights operated by the five domestic airlines through 10 months, 229,393 departed on time. The total number of flights was a 7.1% increase year-on-year. Following Bamboo Airways, VASCO had the second-highest on-time rate, at 93.3%, though they also operated the fewest flights, just 10,661. Vietnam Airlines managed a rate of 88.7%, 0.3% lower than last year, while VietJet Air (82.9%) and Jetstar Pacific (80.6%) rounded out the bottom of the list.
In 2018, Vietnam's 21 state-owned airports welcomed 103.5 million passengers, an 11% increase from 2017, and that figure is expected to hit 112 million this year. Also last year, the Airports Corporation of Vietnam proposed US$2.4 billion in upgrade work on 16 airports.
Meanwhile, relief for overwhelmed airports like Tan Son Nhat in Saigon remains years away.
[Photo via Flickr user Montoya]
