The national aviation agency has prepared a draft proposal to open regular domestic flights amid the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak with the aim of maintaining air transport, promoting economic recovery for localities and removing difficulties for businesses, CAAV director Dinh Viet Thang said Monday.

Under the draft, flights from airports in provinces and cities that are not under social distancing measures will place no limit on the number of passengers. They will only require that the passengers have a negative result from a test done within the last 72 hours.

Flights from airports in provinces and cities that are applying social distancing measures in whole or part of their areas can only carry officials and members of Covid-19 prevention and control forces. All passengers must have valid negative Covid test results.

Furthermore, passengers flying from cities and provinces that are applying total social distancing must get written consent from departure and arrival localities to fly.

The CAAV said it is collecting feedback on the draft proposal from the national carriers before submitting it to the Ministry of Transport for approval. If the proposal is approved, Vietnamese airlines will be able to operate domestic routes with no restriction on operating frequency.

Currently, the aviation industry only operates flights carrying goods and passengers on duty as well as members of the Covid-19 prevention and control force. In July, the authority had asked carriers to limit the number of flights from socially distancing localities to Hanoi based on concerns over the coronavirus threat. The Hanoi-HCMC flight route, an important one, has been limited to a maximum of two flights a day.

Vietnam has recorded 532,491 Covid-19 cases since the fourth coronavirus wave hit the country late April.