Changing flight schedules, what are the obligations of air transport businesses?

Legal Consulting Office of Lao Dong Newspaper answers:

Clause 25, Article 2, Vietnam Civil Aviation Law stipulates: The carrier is an air transport business including the actual carrier and the contract carrier.

Article 37 of Decree 208/2026/ND-CP Regulations on air transport (effective from July 1, 2026) stipulates the obligations of the carrier to passengers in case of flight schedule changes:

1. Changing the flight schedule of a flight is the carrier changing the scheduled departure time of a flight determined by a flight number that has been opened for sale.

2. From the time of opening for sale to the time of announcing the base flight schedule, if the carrier changes the flight schedule of the flight 05 hours earlier or later than the departure time in the ticket, the carrier is responsible for performing the following obligations:

a) Notify passengers;

b) Refund tickets for passengers or change routes, change travel times accordingly or switch to another flight within 72 hours compared to the travel time on the ticket so that passengers reach the end point of the journey as requested by passengers.

3. After the time of announcing the flight schedule based on:

a) For flights with scheduled departure times 15 minutes later than the base flight schedule, the carrier must fulfill the obligations under Article 36 of this Decree;

b) For flights with scheduled departure hours 04 hours earlier than the base flight schedule, the carrier must comply with point b of this clause;

c) For flights with expected departure times fluctuating within a time not exceeding 04 hours or not exceeding 15 minutes earlier than the base flight schedule, the carrier shall comply with the airline's regulations.

Thus, from July 1, 2026, when changing flight schedules, air transport businesses have the above obligations.