There were about 1,037 arriving and departing flights on the fourth day of the Lunar New Year (Tet), including 962 passenger flights, according to the airport.
Passengers seen at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC during the Lunar New Year Holiday in February 2026. Photo by Read/Thanh Tung |
This was around 50,000 more than on a typical day and 15% higher than the same period last year.
Traffic was concentrated mainly on inbound flights to HCMC, accounting for nearly 100,000 arrivals, largely on domestic routes as travelers returned after the holiday.
This was the second consecutive day of exceptionally high traffic. On the third day of Tet (Thursday), the airport handled 922 flights carrying more than 151,000 passengers.
The number of flights and passengers exceeded earlier forecasts, which had projected a peak of around 165,000 passengers, and is considered a record over the past decade.
Previously, peak Tet periods averaged nearly 1,000 flights and about 115,000 to 120,000 passengers per day. Passenger volumes in the coming days are expected to remain close to Friday’s levels.
Despite the sharp increase in traffic, no major congestion occurred. A representative of Tan Son Nhat said operational pressure eased thanks to the redistribution of traffic between the two domestic terminals, T1 and T3.
All flights operated by Vietnam Airlines, Pacific Airlines, Vasco, Bamboo Airways, Vietravel Airlines and Sun Phu Quoc Airways have been moved to Terminal T3, which has a designed capacity of 20 million passengers per year, while Terminal T1 is now used solely by Vietjet Air.
The airport has also coordinated with relevant units to implement peak-service plans, regulate passenger flows by time slots, flexibly arrange check-in counters, baggage carousels and departure gates, and continue applying digital identification and biometric recognition to shorten processing times.
Authorities advised passengers to prepare all necessary documents, check flight and terminal information, and arrive at least two hours early for domestic flights and three hours for international flights to avoid missing their flights.
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