Flight time limitations extended for Vietjet Air’s crew

A plane of Vietjet Air (Photo: VNA)

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam recently announced the budget airline’s pilots can fly for a maximum of 200 hours across 56 consecutive days, up from 100 hours per 28 consecutive days.

The move came as during a regular inspection of Vietjet’s operation, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam discovered that the flight duty time of several pilots exceeded the designated limit of 100 flight hours per 28 consecutive days prescribed at Part 15 of the Vietnam aviation regulations. Therefore, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam requested the carrier to explain the violation of its air crew’s flight duty time.

On June 15, Vietjet said the violation resulted from the conversion of the software to manage working time and rest time of its air crew members from the old software system (Geneva) to the new Crew Management System (AIMS) to ensure better response to update requirements under Part 15, however the carrier has yet to produce timely updated data related to the working time of its flight crews.

While carrying out measures to address the above-said situation and at the same time ensuring the best performance of its pilots and minimising impacts on passengers’ interests, the firm asked the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam for the increase.

Based on Vietjet's proposal and pursuant to international regulations and Vietnam’s legal documents, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam issued concession No. 2019-06-15/VJC-15.027 allowing Vietjet to increase the flight duty time limit of 100 flight hours per 28 days to 200 flight hours per 56 days.

Eligible for the concession are those pilots whose flight time does not exceed 110 hours for any previous consecutive 28-day period, and their flight duty time has not been stopped for health reasons or for violating safety regulations in line with the carrier’s corresponding safety risk assessment in 12 consecutive months.

“The concession issued by the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to Vietjet Air is a practice applied to all Vietnamese airlines and in accordance with international practice, complying with the provisions of legal documents of Vietnam on flight safety standards on the basis of ensuring the ability to assess safety level,” said a representative from the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam is continuing its probe into Vietjet Air’s violations of crew flight time regulations and will take necessary measures to prevent recurrence.

In addition, to ensure the safety during the concession time, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam has deployed safety supervisors to monitor the entire operation of Vietjet.

The concession remains valid in June.

Vietjet Air is the first airline in Vietnam to operate as a new-age airline offering flexible, cost-saving ticket fares and diversified services to meet customers’ demands.

It provides not only transport services but also uses the latest e-commerce technologies to offer various products and services for consumers.

The carrier is a fully-fledged member of International Air Transport Association (IATA) with the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) certificate.

It was named “Best Ultra Low-Cost Airline 2018 - 2019” and awarded the highest ranking for safety with 7 stars in 2018 by the world’s only safety and product rating website AirlineRatings.com. The airline has also been listed as one of the world's 50 best airlines for healthy financing and operations by Airfinance Journal in 2018. Currently, Vietjet operates about 400 flights daily, carrying more than 80 million passengers to date, with 113 routes covering destinations across Vietnam and international destinations such as Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, mainland China, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia and Cambodia.