Damaged runway at central Vietnam airport forces 20 flights delayed

Security forces of the Vinh International Airport discovered several patches of concrete on the runway have cracks on them. After four flights had taken off before 10 a.m. on Monday morning, 20 flights had been delayed so the issue could be fixed.

Hoang Van Thu, the airport’s director, said the concrete on top of the runway got damaged, with cracks spanning 8 meters long and 5 meters wide. The airport has called for contractors to inspect the area and prepared concrete to fix it. The reparation began at 3 p.m., and the runway would be able to resume operation at 6 p.m. the same day.

“The cracks might be due to the hot weather, besides impacts from aircraft taking off. The runway has been operating normally until now, and it has encountered no issue,” Thu said.

At noon on Monday, hundreds of passengers at the airport had their tickets refunded after their flights got delayed.

Tran Van Tuyen, from Nghi Loc District, said he was supposed to fly from Vinh to HCMC at 9:15 a.m. After completing check-in procedures and settling on the plane, he and his fellow 160 passengers were informed by the captain that the runway got damaged and everyone had to go back and wait for further instructions.

Vinh Airport, spanning 30,000 m2, has a runway spanning 2,400 meters long and 45 meters wide. The runway has a concrete asphalt surface, and has been in operation since the end of 2003. Every day, 21-26 flights go in and out of the airport.

Nghe An, like many other localities in northern and central Vietnam, has been experiencing high heat, with temperatures going up to 40 degrees Celsius in certain areas.