An air traffic control team at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi has been suspended pending an investigation in their failure to prevent an issue that affected flight safety, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV).

The CAAV on Wednesday said it had ordered the suspension after receiving a report from the Vietnam Air Traffic Management Corporation (VATM) about an incident on June 24 that involved a plane operated by Thai Air Asia and another by Vietnamese budget carrier Vietjet. 

At 9:16 pm on the day, the air traffic control crew instructed Thai Air Asia plane (flight AIQ 645) to taxi to 11R runway and await a take-off permit.

At the same time, the Vietjet aircraft (flight VJC 943) was ordered to land on the 11L airstrip and cross the 11R runway, which runs parallel to the 11L airstrip, and then to move to the apron.  

However, the crew of flight AIQ 645 never confirmed that it had received the wait order and continued crossing the 11R runway from the 11L airstrip en route to its take-off.  

Meanwhile, the air control tower failed to detect that the plane had missed its instructions regarding waiting for take-off clearance. 

The situation resulted in a moment in which flight AIQ 645 was on the 11R runway preparing to take off as flight VJC 943 was on the same runway heading toward parking.

At the same time, the ground monitoring system issued a red warning for both flights, but the air traffic controllers failed to take action to stop the incident. 

The two planes wound up about 1,500 meters apart.

Though such a distance caused no possibility of collision, it was still inadmissible and threatened flight safety, an aviation safety expert told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The incident happened on June 24, but it was not until June 30 that the Northern Flight Management Company reported it to the VATM.​

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