The carrier operates four flights per week on the HCM City-Shanghai route and three flights per week on the Ha Noi-Shanghai route with Airbus A321 planes.

Vietnam Airlines launched the first direct flight routes linking Shanghai with both HCM City and Ha Noi on Sunday.

The direct flight would make great contribution to promotion on trading, investment and tourism between Viet Nam and Shanghai, the airline said.

With the services, the carrier hoped that it could lure passengers from areas near Shanghai to Viet Nam and then to the Indochina region, vice versa it also would transport passengers from the EU, Australia, Southeast Asia to Viet Nam and then to Shanghai.

It is the fourth Chinese city that Vietnam Airlines offers flight to after Beijing, Kunming and Guangzhou.

On the same day, Vietnam Airlines also opened the first flight on the HCM City-Can Tho City-Phu Quoc Island route with five flights per week on the ATR72 planes.

“Travelling demand on this route has increased sharply over the past years. The services on this route will help ignite the development of the tourism market in Cuu Long (Mekong) River Delta,” it reported.

Can Tho City attracts foreign visitors with eco-tourism features of a floating market on the river, fruit gardens and bird gardens as well as historical places. Whereas, Phu Quoc Island is well-known with a beautiful beach, Phu Quoc National Park among others.

Earlier this quarter, the carrier opened two international routes; including Ha Noi-Osaka (Japan) and Ha Noi-Yangon (Myanmar).

Vietnam Airlines has actively prepared for its plan to officially join the global airline alliance Skyteam in June this year, marking a significant milestone for its development to the world-class standard.

On the occasion, the carrier offers a discount airfare with departure times from April 1 to June 10, with return ticket from HCM City/Ha Noi – to Shanghai priced at VND5.72 million (US$299) (exclusive taxes and airport fees). It also discounts the airfare with return ticket at VND304.000 ($16) on the HCM City-Can Tho-Phu Quoc route with departure times from April 28 to May 30.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Vietnam Airlines aircraft in Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport, where the carrier will launch Myanmar service on March 2, 2010 (Photo: SGGP)

The national carrier said it would fly on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, taking off in Hanoi at 4:10 pm, arriving in Yangon at 6:10 pm and leaving Yangon at 7:10 pm.

Vietnam Airlines is offering a promotional airfare of VND4.62 US$250 for the Hanoi-Yangon direction for ticket issued from Feb. 2 to March 31, traveling in March.

The corporation has ambitious plans to becoming a major carrier in Southeast Asia. It considers Myanmar a regional potential market.

Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and China’s Yunnan Province are in the Mekong Greater Sub-region.

VietNamNet/SGGP

National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines is scheduled to receive 16 Airbus A321 aircraft in 2010 to expand its fleet of 58 planes.

The corporation has transported about 9.3 million passengers this year, including more than six million on domestic routes, increasing by 16% on the year before.

The airline plans to open new routes to Northeast Asia next year.

The carrier’s current fleet includes Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Vietnam Airlines also plans to expand the fleet to 104 planes by 2015 and raise that number to 150 by 2020.

Also in 2010, Vietnam Airlines will join SkyTeam, a global airline alliance with eleven members and three associate carriers.

Source:vietnamnet.vn

National carrier Vietnam Airlines said its daily Ho Chi Minh City-Bangkok service will become twice daily starting December 1 as the carrier plans for more passengers from Thailand next year.

Do Khoi Nguyen, Vietnam Airlines representative in Bangkok, told Thanh Nien that the new schedule, with one flight in the morning and the other in late afternoon, would be good for the tourist market.

The airline wants to prepare for more Thai tourists next year, when Vietnam celebrates Hanoi’s 1,000th anniversary and the 2010 Hue Festival, he said.

Thailand is one of Vietnam’s key tourism markets. According to the Vietnam National Tourism Administration, more than 125,118 Thai tourists visited the country in the first ten months this year, down 18.8 percent from the same period last year.

The new service is part of a plan implemented in late October to provide more flights on key international and domestic routes. The carrier’s passenger numbers this year are expected to increase 4 percent to 9 million.

Source:vietnamnet.vn

Vietnam’s flagship carrier, Vietnam Airlines (VNA), will open a new direct air route from Hanoi to Osaka on January 13, 2010, said VNA spokesman Le Hoang Dung.

There will be five flights a week from Hanoi to Osaka on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, bringing the total number of flights between the two countries to 33 every week.

The Hanoi-Osaka route is VNA’s fourth direct air route from Hanoi to Japan.

VNA now holds a 50 percent market share of passengers flying from Vietnam to Japan.

A Malaysian Budget Airline, AirAsia, has opened a direct air route from Hanoi to Thailand. The airline hopes to attract more passengers with its cheap tickets.

Source:vietnamnet.vn

VietNamNet Bridge – The national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, has coordinated with large travel agents in Vietnam and France to launch a special promotion programme in France from February to the end of September this year.

Accordingly, travel agents will organize some typical tours to showcase the beauty of Vietnam’s land and people with airfare discounts ranging between 20 and 25 percent from April 21 to June 19 and from August 21 to October 20.

This is also part of a tourism promotion campaign launched by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism under the theme “An Tuong Vietnam” (Vietnam Impression), with the aim of attracting more international tourists to the country in 2009.

According to the Vietnam Airlines representative office in Paris, its promotion programme was advertised on popular websites in France, such as Le Monde, Courrier International, Yahoo Voyage and Telerama, as well on the Vietnam Airlines website in France.

The programme has drawn the special attention of many people who have contacted the airlines for further information via telephone or the web at www://vietnamairlines.fr/offers.html.

In addition, Vietnam Airlines also plans to carry out a large-scale promotion programme entitled “2009 Vietnam Sea Festival” to lure European visitors at the end of April.

VietNamNet/VOV