Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – The overall punctuality of the local aviation industry was 95.5 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to statistics from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam  (CAAV).

♔ In the period, Vietnam's six airlines operated 58,302 flights, a red♈uction of nearly 25 percent compared to last year’s figure.

Bamboo Airways took the lead with 96.6 percent of its flights on time; Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines ranked second and third with on-time performance (OTP) of 96 percent and 95.7 percent, respectively; and the OTP rate of Vietjet Air was 94.4 percent.

According to CAAV, Bamboo Airways is also the carrier that has the lowest rate of flight delays among Vietnam’s three big airlines with 3.4 percent, a year-on-year decrease of 1.2 percent, while that of Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air was 4 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively.

The overall rate of flight delays in the sector was 4.5 percent in the first three months of 2021, a decline of 7.3 percent compared with the same period. Meanwhile, the cancellation rate of the domestic aviation industry in the period was 1.3 percent, a year-on-year increase of 1.1 percent. Vietnam Airlines led the industry with 2.7 percent of the flights canceled.

The main reasons leading to flight delays of airlines include late return flights, poor management as well as equipment and services at the airport.

In the first quarter of this year, domestic and international routes have been gradually restored to meet the increasing travel demand. Since regular international flights were resumed and the country was opened to international tourists in mid-March, airlines have raised the frequency of their operation on many routes.

From the end of March, Vietnam Airlines plans to increase international flights every week and expand its exploitation to such markets as Singapore, China, Japan, the Republic of Korea (RoK) as well as domestic routes to meet market demand.

Vietjet Air is striving to increase the frequency of many international routes connecting Vietnam with the RoK, Chinese Taipei, Japan, Singapore, and Thailand.

A representative of Bamboo Ai𝕴rways said that in order to meet the increasing travel needs of customers in the new normal, the airline is developing a network of flights to many countries in the world./.