At nearly 10 pm, Mr. Hoang Viet arrived in Ho Chi Minh City after flight VJ377 from Chu Lai. The flight departed at 6:50 pm, expected to arrive at Tan Son Nhat at about 8:10 pm, but due to having to divert to Buon Ma Thuot airport before continuing the journey, Mr. Viet and the passengers on the flight were nearly 2 hours late.
“Such a delay affects my work and schedule quite a lot. Things that have been arranged in advance must be changed,” Mr. Viet shared.
According to Mr. Viet, when the plane had to be diverted to Buon Ma Thuot, passengers could not control the schedule. The nearly 2 hours of delay also disrupted the plans after the flight.
Not only Mr. Viet, many passengers on flights to Tan Son Nhat on the evening of August 11 also had to change their plans due to disruptions in operations at the airport.
Mr. Phan Thanh Nhon, from Ca Mau, went with a family of 5, including 2 young children, from Hai Phong to Ho Chi Minh City. He said his family's Vietjet flight was delayed by more than 40 minutes.
The pilot announced a delay of about 30 minutes, but in fact it was more than 40 minutes. My family planned to take a bus to the Mekong Delta, so when the plane was delayed, it was immediately affected. We had to change bus tickets and then find another means of transport to return," Mr. Nhon recounted.
Going with two young children, having to wait and change vehicles makes Mr. Nhon's family even more vất vả. According to him, in unexpected situations, passengers only have a flexible way to find other options to continue their journey.
Previously, according to a preliminary report from Tan Son Nhat International Airport (TIA), at 6:16 pm on August 11, the Chief of Staff received information from the Command Tower about flight 3S621, Tan Son Nhat - Hanoi route, just taking off at 6:14 pm when a drone was detected on the right side of the aircraft, about 500 m away, at an altitude of about 1,800 ft.
At 5:34 PM, the command station received information from flight VJ601, Cam Ranh - Tan Son Nhat route, about the detection of a drone when the plane was approaching the airport. The aircraft landed at 5:38 PM, after detecting the drone about 10 miles away, at an altitude of about 3,000 ft. Faced with the above situation, at 6:28 PM, the command station announced the temporary suspension of flights to and from Tan Son Nhat to respond to the situation of static space violation.
At this time, 7 departing flights were waiting to take off and 8 arriving flights were affected. TIA activated a UAV response plan, coordinated with relevant units to handle the situation and ensure operational safety.
By 7:16 pm, take-off and landing operations were restored. However, at 7:40 pm, the command station continued to receive information about detecting the UAV moving in a west-southwest direction. Take-off and landing operations at the airport were therefore continued to be suspended.
TIA reactivated the UAV response plan and coordinated with functional units to monitor and handle the situation. By 8:34 PM, take-off and landing operations at Tan Son Nhat were restored to normal.
