5 tháng bồi thường 10 tỉ đồng vì chậm, hủy chuyến bay

Within 5 months, Vietnam Airlines had to compensate passengers for delayed and canceled flights of 6.2 billion VND, while VietJet Air compensated 3.8 billion VND.

If a flight is canceled or delayed for more than 4 hours, the airline must compensate the customer. Illustrative photo.

Airlines have had to pay this amount since Circular 14/2015 of the Ministry of Transport on compensation for delayed and canceled flights in aviation took effect.

Vietnam Airlines Corporation said that the total amount of compensation that the company must pay to passengers who were denied boarding, passengers whose flights were delayed for long periods, and passengers whose flights were canceled from July 1 to November 30, 2015, according to Circular 14, is more than VND6.2 billion. As for low-cost airline Vietjet Air, the amount of compensation for passengers during this period is also up to VND3.8 billion.

According to the report of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (Ministry of Transport), in 2015, the rate of flight delays and cancellations of domestic airlines was 15-18%, a sharp decrease compared to 2014. However, during peak periods (July and August), the rate of flight delays and cancellations skyrocketed to over 22%. Of which, 90% was due to late arrival of aircraft, weather, 5% was due to technical errors...

Force majeure due to overloaded infrastructure

The General Director of a low-cost airline said that the on-time flight rate of Vietnamese airlines is over 80%, which is quite high compared to other countries in the region. Flight delays and cancellations are not desired by any airline, but they still happen due to many reasons, most of which are objective, especially in the context of the overloaded infrastructure of some airports such as Tan Son Nhat.

“Domestic airlines are increasing the number of new routes and purchasing more aircraft… Not to mention, foreign airlines are also increasing flight frequency and opening new routes to Vietnam. Traffic congestion will be difficult to overcome when infrastructure has not been improved,” said a representative of a low-cost airline.

In particular, with the main flight route Hanoi-Saigon-Hanoi, due to traffic congestion in and out of the airport, overloaded airport infrastructure and even "sky" congestion, flights often have to queue up to land and take off, especially during peak times and weekends. Although airlines have increased the turnaround time from 30 minutes to 40-50 minutes, and the "check-in" counters are closed 40 minutes earlier than the departure time... the rate of delays and cancellations is still difficult to avoid.

Apply many solutions for the upcoming Tet holiday

Vietjet Air representative said that the airline is applying solutions to increase the rate of on-time flights such as improving flight schedule management and ensuring aircraft technical standards. Regarding the infrastructure at Tan Son Nhat airport during the peak season at the end of the year, Vietjet Air has worked with the ground service company and the airport to come up with better service solutions.

A representative of Vietnam Airlines said that the airline is reviewing and building a flexible coordination process for infrastructure and equipment between airlines such as counters, boarding gates, and ground service equipment in case of unusual flights.

“Hãng đang chủ động ứng dụng các sản phẩm công nghệ thông tin mới như làm thủ tục qua điện thoại, Internet, tại quầy tự động để giảm tải cho các khu vực ở sân bay, giảm thời gian khách chờ đợi… Đây là giải pháp cốt lõi ngắn hạn trong thời gian nâng cấp cơ sở hạ tầng tại các sân bay”, đại diện Vietnam Airlines cho biết.

Về phía cơ quan chủ quản, Cục Hàng không Việt Nam cũng đã phối hợp với các cảng vụ, các cảng hàng không sân bay khảo sát, cập nhật năng lực khai thác của các sân bay, thực hiện các giải pháp điều phối giờ cất hạ cánh hiệu quả, giảm ùn tắc, đặc biệt trong giai đoạn cao điểm lễ và Tết Nguyên đán sắp tới.

* Thông tư 14/2015-TT-BGTVT của Bộ GTVT về “Quy định về việc bồi thường ứng trước không hoàn lại trong vận chuyển hành khách bằng đường hàng không” nêu rõ mức bồi thường cho mỗi hành khách đối với chuyến bay nội địa bị chậm, hủy chuyến từ 200.000-400.000 đồng. Mức bồi thường đối với chuyến bay quốc tế từ 25-150 USD.

Theo Chinhphu.vn