HANOI, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam's aviation authority has suspended three air traffic controllers, including one who fell asleep while on duty, for causing delays of two flights.
The crews on two flights of budget airline Vietjet Air, one departing for South Korea and the other arriving from the southern Ho Chi Minh City, could not contact the air traffic control at Cat Bi International Airport in northern Hai Phong City for more than 30 minutes on March 9, local online newspaper Vietnam Economic Times reported on Wednesday.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) stated that the incident was a threat to safety, adding that the head of the air traffic control section was also suspended. CAAV also requested violating controllers to be fined.
The flights were eventually able to depart and land successfully, said the authority.
