Vietnamese airlines already build safe air traffic routes amid Russia-Ukraine tensions

Hanoi (VNA) – The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) on February 24 officially issued a press release regarding the impact of the Russia – Ukraine situation on Vietnamese airlines’ international routes.

Accordingly, the local carriers have proactively built air traffic routes and arranged alternate airports to avoid areas where the war may occur, ensuring the absolute safety for their flights.

Currently, Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, and Bamboo Airways are operating regular international flights between Vietnam and 15 countries and territories, including Cambodia, Hong Kong ( China), Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan (China), Thailand, Laos, France, Germany, the UK, Australia, Russia and the US.

Among these, there are 24 passenger and cargo flights to/from Europe (Russia, France, Germany, and the UK) per week.

CAAV Director Dinh Viet Thang told the Vietnam News Agency on the same day that only Vietnam Airlines is conducting flights to/from Moscow, and the national flag carrier has for long prepared plans to fly over Russia and Western Europe, not Belarus and Ukraine. Therefore, Russia-Ukraine tensions do not impact the international air routes operated by Vietnamese carriers, he noted.

Russian news network RT reported that many big cities of Ukraine heard big explosions on February 24 morning (Vietnam time).

Earlier the same day, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a special military operation to protect people in the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk and People's Republic of Luhansk in Donbass, eastern Ukraine.

Reuters reported that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency on February 24 warned airlines to avoid flying over Ukraine and exercise “extreme caution” in airspace within 185km of the Belarus - Ukraine and Russia - Ukraine borders.

The Ukrainian Government shut airports in eastern Ukraine from midnight through 7am due to escalating tensions. The country’s aviation authorities also declared some airspace in the east to be “danger areas”./.