Thick fog forced dozens of flights headed to Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi to divert to other airports or be delayed in the early hours of Friday.

A leader of the airport told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that as of 8:00 am, the airport had yet to receive flights due to poor visibility caused by dense fog and a low cloud ceiling in the area.

Between 3:00 am and 8:00 am, 12 domestic flights were diverted to Cat Bi Airport in Hai Phong City, northern Vietnam and Da Nang International Airport in the namesake central city. Another international flight also failed to touch down at the airport.

Many other flights set to land at Noi Bai International Airport were delayed due to the bad weather.

Dozens of flights scheduled to depart from the airport early Friday were unable to take off.

In total, 55 flights were affected by fog at Noi Bai International Airport.

An airport administrator referred to the forecast from the Aviation Meteorological Center, stating that normal flight operations were expected to resume by 10:00 am.

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines reported that the fog shrouded not only Noi Bai International Airport but also Vinh Airport in Nghe An Province, Tho Xuan Airport in Thanh Hoa Province in north-central Vietnam, and Phu Bai Airport in Thua Thien-Hue Province in central Vietnam, causing more delays.

To ensure safety, Vietnam Airlines delayed the departure time of many flights from and to these airports by two to six hours, including eight from Ho Chi Minh City to Nghe An, one to Thanh Hoa, and another to Thua Thien-Hue.

Nearly 30 domestic and international flights operated by Vietnam Airlines were postponed due to a domino effect.

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