CAAV disputes poor Asia rating for airports

Tan Son Nhat in HCM City and Noi Bai in Ha Noi are not among the worst airports in Asia, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of Viet Nam (CAAV), which disputed their recent poor rankings on an international survey site.

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The Guide to Sleeping in Airports (www.sleepinginairports.net) ranks Ha Noi's international and domestic airport number fifth out of ten airports, describing it as "hot, chaotic and not especially clean" with travelers constantly frustrated by "the poor signage and limited flight information displayed throughout."


Tan Son Nhat airport in HCM City is ranked eighth, with facilities that are "generally quite average" and "cleanliness levels" that "fluctuate". One traveler is quoted as saying: "The air-conditioning was questionable, the Wi-Fi was beyond bad and there was nowhere to sit."

However, Vietnamese airport authorities objected that the ranking failed to reflect recent improvements made at these two airports.

Facilities and staff behaviour had significantly improved, CAAV head Lai Xuan Thanh told Thanh Nien (Youth) newspaper.

In a separate report, the administration admitted that aviation safety needed work, as 210 cases relating to aviation safety were reported in the first nine months, an increase of 60 cases over 2013 and a 39 per cent increase compared with the same period last year. There were also many cases of objects and animals obstructing the runway.

Notably, there were two major errors, one of which was a June 19 VietJet Air flight to Da Lat that somehow ended up at the airport in Cam Ranh.