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Aircraft shortage forces Jetstar Pacific to delay many flights
Vietnam’s first low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific has been forced to delay many flights during and right after the Lunar New Year holidays, or Tet because of aircraft shortage and unexpected technical problems, according to the airline’s chief commercial officer.
Nguyen Thi Thuy Binh attributed the delays and even cancellations mainly to the accidental hit at the body of the carrier’s Boeing 737-400 by the luggage conveyor vehicle at Noi Bai Airport in Hanoi on January 9, resulting in a shortage of aircraft for flying.
Jetstar Pacific brought home the Boeing to Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC on February 3 after less than a month getting fixed up in Singapore. However, the airline has not been able to operate the airplane as the Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has not completed verification before this authority grants approval for it to fly.
Binh told the Daily on the phone on Sunday that Jetstar Pacific expected to get such approval soon so that the airline would be able to put the aircraft into service again to reduce pressure on the wings of other five aircraft that fly at full steam to meet surging air travel.
Binh explained Jetstar Pacific had to delay many flights if technical problems unexpectedly happened to any of the aircraft that the airline was operating, especially in a time when the airline increases flights to transport more passengers during and after the Tet holidays.
This was the reason why Jetstar Pacific has been forced to delay many flights since the incident with the Boeing airplane, Binh said. For instant, the airline had to postpone at least nine flights on Friday as a technical problem occurred to one of its aircraft scheduled to take off at Noi Bai Airport in the capital city on that day.
To transport hundreds of passengers stranded at the Noi Bai Airport, Jetstar Pacific re-scheduled and operated flights, particularly from Hanoi to HCMC in the evening and on Saturday.
“We’ve tried our best to mobilize more staff for evening flights to transport passengers to the destinations they had already booked,” Binh said.
For the flights being delayed for more than three hours, Jetstar Pacific provides free meals, compensation of VND200,000 for each of the affected passengers in accordance with existing regulations, as well as refunds payments to passengers if they want to get their money back.
Jetstar Pacific can also arrange seats on other airlines for a number of the affected passengers but this is almost impossible during and just after the Tet holidays as flights of the other carriers are fully occupied.
VietNamNet, SGT
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