Hanoi, Nov 8 (IANS): The number of travellers through Vietnam's airports reached more than 81 million in the first 10 months of this year, according to the the country's Civil Aviation Authority.

The number is forecast to increase to 100 million by the end of 2022, equivalent to about 80 per cent of 2019's figure, the Authority' chief Dinh Viet Thang said on Tuesday.

At the same time, rapidly increasing flights were seen for the upcoming Lunar New Year as local airlines raced to increase 1.7 million seats to supply, Xinhua news agency reported.

Though the domestic market has experienced high growth, the international market has only recovered about 50 per cent, the Authority said.

According to experts, businesses in infrastructure transportation have experienced a strong recovery, while airlines and passenger transport suppliers still face many difficulties, including the cash flow imbalance triggered by the pandemic when their operations were mostly frozen.

Meanwhile, the Southeast Asian country has recorded nearly 2.4 million international arrivals in the first 10 months of this year, increasing nearly 19 times from the same period in 2021, but still much lower than the pre-pandemic period in 2019.

From January to October, visitors entering the country by air amounted to approximately 2.1 million, accounting for 88.8 per cent of the total.

Vietnam received a record number of over 18 million international arrivals in 2019, the last full year before the Covid-19 pandemic broke out.

In 2020 and 2021, the number of international arrivals to Vietnam plunged 78.7 per cent and 95.9 per cent year on year, respectively.