Statistics from Flightradar24, one of the world's most popular flight tracker, shows that there are 1,000 Hanoi-HCM City routes daily. Noi Bai Airport receives 486 flights a week from Tan Son Nhat Airport and there are 489 flights from Noi Bai to Tan Son Nhat a week. Vietnam Airlines and Vietjet Air have most flights on these routes.

Noi Bai Airport will receive a total of 30 million passengers this year and 35 million passengers in 2020. This is also the maximum number of passengers Noi Bai Airport can receive since only international Terminal 2 will be expanded.

In 2018, Tan Son Nhat Airport received over 38 million passengers. It is forecasted that it will receive 45 million passengers in 2025 while the designed capacity of both terminal 1 and 2 is for 28 million passengers a year. There are at least 44 flights land and take off per hour at Tan Son Nhat.

During a seminar about developing aviation industry and boosting tourism in Hanoi, Le Hong Ha, deputy head of Vietnam Airlines, said just two weeks ago, the Hanoi-HCM City route was recognised as the second busiest air route in the world. In the following week, it dropped to third place.

Since 2016, Hanoi-HCM City has already been ranked as seven out of 10 busiest air routes in the world. In the past year, the local aviation industry has seen huge development with an average growth rate of 15.8% a year. However, both Noi Bai and Tan Son Nhat airports are facing overloading problems. Urgent measures are needed, especially at Tan Son Nhat Airport.

Dinh Viet Phuong, deputy director of Vietjet Air, said, "All carriers are only allowed to have a total of 44 flights a day to Tan Son Nhat. We have huge demands to increase flights but how can we do that?"

Lai Xuan Thanh, chairman of the Airports Corporation of Vietnam, said infrastructure development must follow government's planning. They have built a development plan based on Prime Ministerial Decision 236. The plan includes Long Thanh Airport Project and Tan Son Nhat Airport expansion project.

"We are waiting for the detailed planning to be completed which must be done by approved state agencies. Mid and long-term plans must also be approved by the state agencies," he said.

If they increase more flights without carrying any major upgrade and maintenance then the runways will be damaged quickly. He also mentioned related problems that should be addressed like flight management and ground services. Dtinews