Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City has come up with plans to respond to a hike in the number of passengers at the airport ahead of the upcoming Lunar New Year, or Tet, holiday, a leader of the airport’ authority said on Monday.

According to the official, from January 1 to December 15 this year, the airport served over 32.5 million passengers, down 17.27 percent over the same period in 2019.

The figure is estimated to reach 34.1 million until December 31.

The peak traveling period during the Tet holiday will fall between January 6 and February 5, 2023, with some 820 flights per day carrying 130,000 passengers, including 90,000 locals and 40,000 foreigners.

The airport has prepared plans to serve passengers during the Tet holiday. In particular, it has improved its infrastructure and adjusted operation plans.

In the check-in area, gates 15 and 26 will be kept employing, and there will be solutions to regulate passengers in halls A and B to facilitate their procedure completion.

In addition, arrivals will not have their bag-tags checked.

Furthermore, passengers’ identity papers may not be checked at boarding gates to reduce procedures and ease the overload at the domestic terminal.

The airport has also worked with transport firms, asking them to increase their capacity by 20 percent to some 13,000-14,000 services per day from the current 11,500 services. 

The airport’s leader said that all employees will be mobilized to provide the best services for passengers on peak days.

Rapid response teams will be arranged to detect brokers luring passengers to unauthorized taxi and motorbike taxi services at the airport.

Nguyen Cong Hoan, deputy director of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, said the number of passengers passing through the airport has exceeded its designed capacity. 

The domestic terminal currently has an annual capacity of 15 million passengers but now serves a double number of passengers.

Meanwhile, the T3 terminal project has yet to be developed, placing pressure on the domestic terminal and causing an overwhelming volume of passengers inside the airport and congestion in the airport’s gateways.

As for the congestion of taxis in front of the domestic terminal, the airport has worked with taxi firms to deal with the issue.

“Overcrowding is unavoidable, so the airport expects residents to sympathize with its [longer-than-normal] serving time," the airport’s official said.

“In case of its employees’ unfriendly attitude, passengers should immediately report it to the airport’s management board for promptly adjustment and handling."

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