Airlines, travel firms in “passive voice” with Phu Bai airport maintenance plan

The Middle Airports Corporation (MAC) plans to temporarily close the Phu Bai International Airport for one month in order to upgrade the only runway at the airport. The maintenance plan has forced airlines and travel firms to contrive to provide services.
Representatives from air carriers told Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon on May 4, that during the runway upgrading time, from May 13 to June 13, when the Phu Bai airport does not open, the travelers to Hue City will have to buy air tickets for the flights to Da Nang City, and then to take train or coaches to Hue City.
Travel firms are now busy re-designing tours and renting coaches to carry travelers to the Da Nang Airport.
Both airlines and travel firms have complained that they cannot take initiative with their business plans, because they were not informed about the airport upgrading plan soon.
Airlines get confused
Though MAC has decided that the Phu Bai airport will officially close from 0 am of May 13, 2011, Jetstar Pacific had to make an announcement that it will not provide the flights between HCM City and Phu Bai airport from May 5 to June 13, 2011. The problem is that the airline cannot sell tickets after booking agents and travelers heard about the Phu Bai airport operation halt, from May 5.
In February 2011, MAC sent a notice to Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific, informing that it planned to close Phu Bai from May 5 to June 5, stressing that it was just a tentative plan and that MAC still needed to get approval from the Prime Minister and Ministry of Transport for the plan.
Though understanding that this was not yet the official plan, air carriers had to forward the information to travel firms and booking agents and had to stop selling tickets for the flights to Hue during that time.
However, two months after the tentative plan was released, the airport upgrading time has been changed: the airport will be closed from May 13 to June 13, instead of May 5.
The problem is that before the final decision was made, both Jetstar Pacific and Vietnam Airlines have halted selling tickets for the flights from May 5. However, after having realized that the airport will only begin closing on May 13, Vietnam Airlines has said it will continue providing flights from Hanoi and HCM City to Hue City until May 12.
Airlines all complain that as they are not informed the exact schedule, they cannot take initiative with their business plans.
Travel firms facing big difficulties
Like airlines, travel firms said they have been surprised when hearing about the airport closing from May 13. Some of the travel firms said they only got the official information on April 13. Especially, most of the firms said they do not get official information from the management agency of the Phu Bai airport, and that they only got the information from newspapers and air ticket booking agents.
“Two months ago, I heard that Phu Bai would temporarily halt operation, therefore, I had to change the itineraries of the tours. Instead of taking direct flights from HCM City to Phu Bai, travelers will have to fly to Da Nang,” said Nguyen Minh Quyen from Ben Thanh Tourist. “Though the information I heard was unofficial at that time, I still needed to take actions to keep our business smooth”.
Quyen said travel firms should have been informed the exact schedule six months of one year in advance, so that they can re-arrange their business plans. In general, travel firms have to send tour programs to foreign partners one year before the departure, therefore, it is now very difficult to change anything.
The thing that travel firms have to do immediately, is to change air tickets for travelers, because travelers will fly to Da Nang instead of Phu Bai. As for the tours to be ended in Hue City, travel firms will have to rent coaches to carry travelers to Da Nang, which will cost travel firms 200,000 dong per traveler more.