Two incidents involving unauthorized drone activity were detected in the airspace managed by an airport in Ho Chi Minh City at 5:34 p.m. and 6:16 p.m., an airport representative said.

A Vietjet flight crew reported the first incident after spotting drones about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the airport at an altitude of 3,000 feet (914 meters) while landing at Tan Son Nhat from Cam Ranh.

The crew of an AeroLogic cargo flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi detected the second incident at an altitude of 1,800 feet.

The airport subsequently suspended all takeoffs and landings, resuming operations at 7:16 p.m. However, it suspended them again less than 20 minutes later after receiving reports of further drone activity.

Landing and departure operations fully resumed at 8:34 p.m.

Vietnam Airlines flight VN1467 bound for Tan Son Nhat Airport waits on the ground at Can Tho Airport on Aug. 11, 2026. Photo by Ha Giang

The disruptions over more than two hours affected 22 flights operated by Vietnam Airlines, Sun PhuQuoc Airways, Pacific Airlines and Vietravel Airlines. Several flights bound for Ho Chi Minh City had to circle before landing or divert to Can Tho Airport, about 100 kilometers away, or Cam Ranh Airport, about 300 kilometers away.

Vietnam Airlines said at least 12 of its flights had to wait or divert to other airports after being unable to land at Tan Son Nhat, while flights departing from Ho Chi Minh City were unable to take off.

By 8 p.m., delays had been reported for flights from Pleiku, Chu Lai, Hai Phong, Cam Ranh, Hanoi and Quy Nhon that were scheduled to land at Tan Son Nhat between 6:40 p.m. and 8:35 p.m.

Hung, who was traveling from Cam Ranh to Tan Son Nhat, said his flight was scheduled to depart at 6:20 p.m. but was delayed by 35 minutes. The plane then had to circle several times before landing.

Passengers wait at the domestic terminal T1 at Tan Son Nhat Airport in HCMC at 8:45 p.m. on Aug. 11, 2026. Photo by VnExpress/Tuan Viet

Recently, numerous incidents involving flying objects near airports have disrupted aviation operations.

On June 6, the crew of a Hanoi-Cam Ranh flight spotted an unmanned aircraft near Noi Bai Airport. Departures stopped for nearly an hour, delaying 16 flights.

On the evening of March 15, an object believed to be a drone appeared near the landing approach at Cat Bi Airport in Hai Phong. Four flights diverted to Noi Bai, and operations did not return to normal for about four hours, until after midnight.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam recorded repeated UAV incursions into Da Nang's takeoff and landing airspace between September 2025 and February 2026, at distances of three to 12 nautical miles and altitudes of 1,000 to 3,800 feet.

During the Lunar New Year holiday in February, 54 aircraft were forced to hold or alter their approach.

Regulations bar drones outright within 8 km of an airport.

Under procedures the aviation authority revised in March, an airport can return to normal operations once 60 minutes pass with no further detection.

UAVs inside active flight areas can force aircraft into holding patterns, change takeoff and landing procedures, or send them to alternate airports, the authority says. It rates a collision between a drone and an aircraft as a direct threat to aviation safety.

Tan Son Nhat handled more than 42.4 million passengers on 255,376 flights in 2025, the most of any airport in Vietnam. Traffic there peaked at over 177,000 passengers on 1,069 flights on Feb. 22 this year, the busiest day in the airport's history.