Vietnam will resume incoming international flights to its capital Hanoi and business hub Ho Chi Minh City effective immediately.

The nation imposed a suspension due to a COVID-19 outbreak earlier this week.

Vietnamese authorities had initially banned incoming international flights to Hanoi for a week starting Monday and to Ho Chi Minh City until June 14.

The aviation authority hasn’t revealed just why it was resuming flights earlier than planned.

Meanwhile, most of the COVID-19 cases in the current outbreak are locally transmitted and not from international passengers.

Travel impacts on Aviation

The news comes as the Global Aviation sector continues to struggle due to the pandemic.

The bosses of leading airlines have written to senior government figures in both nations, calling for an expedited travel corridor. 

With vaccination rollouts well underway within both nations, the aviation sector wants to ease travel restrictions on the normally busy transatlantic travel route.

The letter to US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and UK Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps stated:

“Air travel is a critical enabler of trade between our countries that was worth US$273 billion in 2019,” 

Of those who have joined forces include British Airways, American Airlines, United Airlines, Delta Airlines, JetBlue, and Industry Group Airlines for America.

“Public health must guide the reopening of international air travel, and we are confident that the aviation industry possesses the right tools, based on data and science, to enable a safe and meaningful restart to transatlantic travel”

The letter signifies a rare joining of forces between airlines that are normally arch-rivals. The CEOs who signed the letter have proposed a summit to explore how to safely and swiftly re-open the critical route between the UK and US.