Tan Son Nhat Customs put great effort to implement procedures for repatriation flights during Lunar New Year

Tan Son Nhat customs officials conducted scanning luggage

On February 16, customs officials of the entry luggage customs procedures team and the customs supervision team under Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch were preparing to implement clearance procedures for luggage and vehicles for flight No. CX799 HKG-SGN STA transporting 11 passengers from Hong Kong to Tan Son Nhat International Airport and was expected to landed at 6:05 pm.

According to Phan Minh Hung, head of the entry luggage customs procedures team, all customs officials who performed procedures for this flight had been tested for Covid-19 and were negative for SARS-CoV-2. At present, those customs officials are ready to perform their duty.

Earlier, during the Lunar New Year period (from 11/2 to 13/2), Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch completed clearance procedures for five rescue flights with nearly 100 passengers. In particular, there were flights with a few dozen passengers but there were flights transporting only one passenger.

On New Year’s Eve, customs officials of Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch wore protective clothing to perform procedures for 25 passengers on an entry flight from Doha International Airport (Qatar) to Tan Son Nhat International Airport.

According to the leaders of Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch, although they had to work in the center of the pandemic, customs officials complied with pandemic prevention measures, making an effort to successfully complete their assigned tasks.

After the occurrence of cases related to Tan Son Nhat airport, the leader of Tan Son Nhat Airport Customs Branch instructed teams to implement measures to segregate and assign work according to the group. At the same time, it is recommended that all customs officials after finishing work, go home to avoid outside contact and communicating with each other at the lowest level when going to work. Customs officials who performed tasks in areas in contact with passengers were required to wear face shields.

Arrivals terminal of Tan Son Nhat International Airport on February 13, 2021

Currently, Vietnam only permits cargo flights and some rescue flights to bring Vietnamese citizens back home from foreign countries for special reasons.

In the context of the pandemic, the unit always arranges full staff to perform duties to ensure the handling of customs procedures for passengers entering from pandemic-affected areas with the motto of “convenient for passengers, strict management, safety in pandemic prevention”. All customs officials always strictly complied with the directions of leaders at all levels on pandemic prevention while performing tasks in accordance with regulation of pandemic prevention such as wearing masks, gloves, protective clothing, face shields and washing hands with an antiseptic solution.

In the period since May 24, 2020, on average each month, the number of rescue flights and flights transporting passengers who were immigration experts averaged about 68 flights/month, 1,749 experts/month; the number of passengers on entry was about 3,041 passenger/month. Up to now, the total number of rescue passengers totalled nearly 25,000 passengers and nearly 14,000 foreign experts to work in Vietnam. All passengers on entry were facilitated to implement procedures and were taken to quarantine safely, avoiding the infection of customs officials on duty as well as spreading to the community.

In the center of the epidemic, customs officials were still optimistic and strived to accomplish tasks.

Deputy Manager Nguyen Thi Cam Chau said that working in the current situation at airports was a great effort and a silent sacrifice - not afraid of difficulties and success of customs officials in the unit - which was considered the front line in the prevention of the Covid-19 pandemic.

During days of being on duty, working through the Lunar New Year of the customs officials of Tan Son Nhat International Airport had made an important contribution to bringing a peaceful Tet to every home. Currently, the staff of Tan Son Nhat International Airport Customs Branch is still trying to perform tasks at the front line.