Like other airways in the world, the national air carrier, Vietnam Airlines, has announced its flight schedule for the winter, which will run from October 28, 2007 to March 29, 2008.
The opening of new air routes and the increase of flights for some air routes testifies to the attractiveness of Vietnam as a tourism destination.
In its winter flight schedule, Vietnam Airlines emphasises tourist sites. A new air route linking three cities of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia (Hanoi-Luang Prabang-Siem Reap) is opened with five flights per week on Fokker 70.
The route from HCMC to Siem Reap, the home of Angkor Wat, will have three flights in the morning by ATR 72 while there will be one more flight from Hanoi to Singapore, raising the total number to five flights per week by Airbus 321.
Vietnam Airlines makes some changes for air routes to Europe. For the route from HCMC/Hanoi to Paris (France), the flight from Paris will take off at 12.25am, 1.35 hours earlier than the previous time.
During the Lunar New Year, the airline will increase flights on some air routes, including one more for the Paris-Hanoi, four more for HCMC-Paris, and three more Paris-HCMC, and one more for HCMC-Moscow (Russia) by Boeing 777.
In northeastern Asia, the HCMC-Seoul (South Korea) will be resumed by Boeing 777. The HCMC-Fukuoka (Japan) route will have four flights per week by Airbus 321. The Hanoi-Guangzhou (China) route will be also resumed with three flights per week by F70.
For local routes, the number of flights on the HCMC-Dalat route will increase by seven to reach 14 flights per week by ATR72, five more for Hanoi-Dien Bien to reach nine flights a week, also by ATR72. Other local air routes will also see an increase in flight numbers, for example HCMC-Haiphong, Hanoi-Nha Trang, Hanoi-HCMC, Hanoi-Danang, HCMC-Danang.
The Vietnam Air Service Company (VASCO), which is under the aegis of Vietnam Airlines, will offer one more flight from HCMC to Chu Lai each week by ATR 72 and one more for HCMC-Con Dao Island, also by ATR72.
In an effort to expand its market, the low-cost airline Pacific Airline has also introduced its flight schedule from now to the year’s end and the early 2008.
In October 2007, Pacific Airlines will increase the number of flights between HCMC and Hanoi from seven to nine per day. On December 1, 2007, it will open the HCMC-Hue air route, with one flight/day.
As it will double its aircrew to eight airplanes from now to mid-2008 (Boeing 737-400 and Airbus A320-200), Pacific Airlines will open new air routes and increase the flight numbers others, including HCMC-Hanoi (11 flights/day), HCMC-Danang (4 flights /day), HCMC-Nha Trang (2 flights /day), HCMC-Hai Phong (1 flight /day), HCMC-Dalat, HCMC-Buon Ma Thuot (1 flight /day), HCMC-Vinh (1 flight /day), Hanoi-Danang (1flight /day), Hanoi-Hue (1 flight /day), Hanoi-Nha Trang (1 flight /day), Hanoi-Dalat (1 flight /day).
For international air routes, besides the HCMC-Bangkok, HCMC-Singapore, Pacific Airlines will offer new air routes: HCMC-Siem Reap (2 flights /day) and HCMC-Kuala Lumpur (1 flight /day).
