Le Van Dung, a security guard at Thanh Hoa’s Tho Xuan Airport, was on duty on Tuesday afternoon when he spotted the dog. Security personnel then secured and removed it from the location.

The incident caused an inbound Vietjet Air flight from HCMC to delay landing by 10 minutes.

Tran Hoai Phuong, director of Northern Airports Authority, said any foreign objects in an airport’s operations area threaten flight safety, and that dogs from surrounding neighborhoods sometimes breached the fence despite surveillance.

"Northern Airports Authority requests airports to boost surveillance to detect animal breaches and encourage residents in surrounding areas not to raise dogs and cats," he added.

In other news, at least seven flights to Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport on Thursday morning were diverted due to reduced vision from thick fog.

Representatives of Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines said two flights from HCMC and one from Vinh in central Nghe An Province had to be rerouted to northern Hai Phong City’s Cat Bi International Airport.

Two other flights from HCMC and one from Central Highlands’ Pleiku City had to be diverted to Da Nang International Airport, with another from Buon Ma Thuot in the Central Highlands sent to Tho Xuan Airport, representatives confirmed.

Several other domestic flights operated by Bamboo Airways and Vietjet Air to Noi Bai had to be diverted as well.