Staff penalised after plane lands at wrong airport

A VietJet plane, with about 200 passengers onboard, took off from Ha Noi last month headed for Lien Khuong Airport in the Central Highlands Province of Da Lat. However, it landed at Cam Ranh Airport in the central province of Khanh Hoa. This was 140 kilometres away from its intended destination.— File Photo

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — VietJet has announced that it has laid off a flight coordinator who was involved in the landing of a plane at the wrong airport on June 19.

The other employees involved in the case received disciplinary warning, were suspended from work, had their salaries and bonuses cut and were trained again, the airline said.

They also had to compensate for the damages they caused, it said, while declining to disclose the specific amount of compensation.

All these strict decisions were made as part of the airline's efforts to improve the quality of its services and to serve the passengers better, it noted.

An additional flight had to be arranged to transport the passengers from Khanh Hoa to Da Lat.

Following the incident, the flight coordinator and crew members of VietJetAir flight VJ8575 were temporarily suspended by the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam (CAAV).

CAAV chief Lai Xuan Thanh said the mistake was the result of a sudden adjustment in VietJetAir's flying plan.

The plane's crew, including the Czech captain, were supposed to fly to Cam Ranh, but were transferred to another plane that was flying to Da Lat.

The cabin crew was informed of the new destination, but the pilot still thought that he was flying the original route until the plane was 8 kilometres from Cam Ranh airport. — VNS