Air passengers in Vietnam near pre-pandemic levels

Passenger number through Vietnamese airports reached more than 81 million in the first 10 months of this year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam. The number is forecast to increase to 100 million by the end of 2022, equivalent to about 80 percent of 2019's figure, the local newspaper Vietnam News cited the authority's head Dinh Viet Thang as reporting on Tuesday.

At the same time, rapidly increasing flights were seen for the upcoming Lunar New Year as local airlines raced to increase 1.7 million seats to supply, according to the authority. Though the domestic market has experienced high growth, the international market has only recovered about 50 percent, it said.

According to experts, businesses in infrastructure transportation have experienced a strong recovery, while airlines and passenger transport suppliers still face many difficulties, including the cash flow imbalance triggered by the pandemic when their operations were mostly frozen.