VNBusinessNews.com - Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific on Tuesday resumed almost all of their flights to the airports in the Central and Central Highlights regions where they were unable to land on Monday due to the impact of Storm Mirinae.

Vietnam Airlines spokesman Le Hoang Dung said the national flag carrier began flying back to all the airports in the two regions on Tuesday morning, except Nha Trang and Quy Nhon in the central region where visibility was poor and flooding still severe.

Dung told the Daily on the phone on Tuesday that stretches of the roads leading to the airport in Quy Nhon were still submerged under the water, making it difficult to travel to the airport.

This was one of the main reasons why Vietnam Airlines had delayed the resumption of its daily flights to Quy Nhon until on Tuesday afternoon.

The storm forced Vietnam Airlines to cancel 50 flights from HCMC and Hanoi to Danang, Nha Trang, Dalat, Quy Nhon, Tuy Hoa, Hue, Vinh and Buon Ma Thuot and vice versa on Monday.

The flight cancellations affected the travel schedules of nearly 4,800 passengers. Dung said Vietnam Airlines arranged available seats on the flights to the regions on Tuesday and the coming days for these guests and accepted tickets back from those who want to have their money refunded.

Tran Hoang Linh, representative of Jetstar Pacific in Danang, said this carrier had to abort two return flights and divert one flight to Phu Bai in the central city of Hue from Danang Airport on Monday.

Linh told the Daily on the phone on Tuesday that there were more than 100 passengers aboard each of the affected flights to the central cities. He added these guests were allowed to register their seats on the flights after the storm or claim their money back if they wanted to cancel their travel.

The low-cost carrier resumed five daily flights from Hanoi and HCMC to Danang and Hue on Tuesday, but did not increase flights.

Asked about Vietnam Airlines’ plan to add flights to the airports in the regions, Dung told the Daily in the morning that the airline was considering the demand and available aircraft. However, the carrier said in a statement released last night that it would operate four more flights from HCMC and Hanoi to the coastal central city of Nha Trang today in addition to normal flights.

Vietnam Airlines and Jetstar Pacific had to call off more than 40 flights in late September as a result of tropical storm Ketsana, also known as Storm No. 9 in Vietnam, which swept through parts of the Central and Central Highlands regions.

Vietnam Airlines added six flights to the regions after this devastating storm to transport affected passengers to their destinations.