Tan Son Nhat airport promises better quality for Tet

Passengers flying during the Lunar New Year season, or Tet in Vietnamese, will enjoy much improved service at the Ho Chi Minh City airport, Dang Tuan Tu told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The Vietnamese Lunar New Year falls on February 8, but demand for air travel normally soars a week before the holiday.

Tan Son Nhat therefore has more than a month to enhance its service quality, as ordered by the Ministry of Transport, in the wake of a quality assessment report that pinpointed myriad shortcomings at Vietnam’s busiest airport earlier this month.

“We are upgrading the free Wi-Fi connection at both the domestic and international terminals, which is expected to come on stream by December 20,” Tu said.

The Wi-Fi service at the airport has been criticized for being weak and almost unusable, according to the report conducted by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

Psychologist Huynh Van Son (L, 1st) speaks during a training session with Tan Son Nhat airport employees in Ho Chi Minh City.

“The upgraded Internet system will have 10Gbps speed with multilpe hotspots, guaranteeing stronger and more reliable access for passengers,” the airport director said.

While both arriving and departing passengers currently have to wave down taxis in the same area, a new taxi zone will open to passengers on December 20, helping to reduce the overload there, Tu added.

In 2016, a five-story parking lot is also expected to be put into use to reduce pressure on the current venue.

The 68,000 square meter parking space, including a taxi zone, will be connected to the arrival hall of the domestic terminal through an underground pathway, so that passengers will not have to cross the street overground to get to their vehicles or hail a cab, Tu said.

Other changes will be made at the airport, such as the addition of more benches in the waiting hall and more baggage scan machines in the security zone, according to the director.

During the approaching peak season, Tan Son Nhat is expected to handle 660 to 689 flights on a daily basis, but Tu said there are already solutions for dealing with such pressure.

“As we cannot expand the check-in area, the solution is installing automatic check-in counters and encouraging passengers to check in via mobile phones or online,” he elaborated.

From now to the Tet vacation period, eight automatic check-in counters will be installed at the international terminal, and airport employees will also be trained in order to shorten the procedure time, he added.

With the assessment report showing that there are too few dishes available at Tan Son Nhat, and with some food costing more than it should, the airport will cooperate with a service provider, SASCO, to set up convenience stores to solve the problem.

“These take-away stores will sell necessities, fast food and beverages to passengers at prices between VND20,000 [US$1] and VND50,000 [$2.2],” he said.

A new waiting room, covering 436 square meters, will also be put into use at the international departure area to serve passengers of delayed or canceled flights.

“Passengers can relax, use Wi-Fi, read newspapers for free, and enjoy the compensatory food provided by the airlines there,” Tu said.

SASCO will also team up with the airport managers to run training programs aimed at improving the behavior and attitude of around 1,000 employees, according to the director.

Tan Son Nhat received its 25 millionth passenger for 2015 earlier this month, but the full-year figure is expected to be 26.4 million passengers, Tu said.

The airport has a design capacity of 25 million passengers a year and had been projected to reach the threshold by 2020.

“We have exceeded the target five years in advance,” Tu said, adding that the airport is under huge pressure due to overloading.