More than 100 flights disrupted as drones shut Vietnam's busiest airport for 2 hours

On August 11, drones disrupted air traffic at Vietnam's busiest airport, Tan Son Nhat, causing over 100 flights to be delayed or diverted. Vietnam Airlines was responsible for the majority of the disruptions, accounting for about 64% of the flights and affecting over 10,000 passengers on domestic routes. Fifteen flights headed for Ho Chi Minh City and another 15 departing were held, while approximately 14 aircraft circled or rerouted to alternate airports.

The first incident occurred around 5:34 p.m. when a Vietjet flight from Cam Ranh reported sighting a drone 16 km out at 3,000 feet. At 6:14 p.m., a Boeing 777 departing from the same runway reported a drone roughly 500 meters off its right side. The airport immediately activated its drone response plan and halted all takeoffs and landings. Seven departures were already waiting to leave when operations were suspended at 7:16 p.m.

The issue persisted for two hours, with the control tower reporting 73 flights directly affected, followed by downstream delays. VATM recorded 19 flights impacted within a narrower window from 6:14 to 7:14 p.m. The Airports Corporation of Vietnam is now working with the Ho Chi Minh City Military Command and police units to determine the source of the drones.

Air traffic flow coordinators suspended flights destined for Tan Son Nhat from other airports, held aircraft on the ground, and resequenced departures. During the second drone incursion, restrictions were widened to include more airports in Vietnam and abroad. Tan Son Nhat is the most busy airport in Vietnam, handling over 42.4 million passengers on 255,376 flights in 2025, with peak traffic reaching more than 177,000 passengers on a single day in February.