Vinh - Vientiane flight route: Development momentum

(Baonghean) -The launch of the new Vinh - Vientiane flight route is an important milestone that motivates relevant levels and sectors to support and invest in Vinh Airport to continue developing more medium-range international flights...

Leaders of Vinh province, Vinh city and Department of Transport participated in the Vinh - Vientiane international flight.

Mr. Tran Anh Son - General Director of Nghe An Agricultural Import-Export Corporation often travels to Laos for work, so since the Vinh - Vientiane International flight route was launched, he has chosen to travel by plane. Mr. Son said: "Previously, going to Laos often had to go by road, which took a lot of time and was quite difficult, but since the Vinh - Vientiane flight route was launched, it has created many advantages for businesses in traveling to learn about the market, signing import-export contracts...". The opening of the Vinh - Vientiane flight route not only attracts businesses and tourists, people from provinces in the North Central region to Laos, but also actively contributes to promoting exchanges and cooperation in various fields between provinces of Laos and Thailand.

On January 12, 2014, an important event at Vinh Airport was the first international flight from Vinh to Vientiane (Laos). Up to now, Vietnam Airlines has operated more than 40 flights from Vinh to Vientiane and vice versa with more than 1,100 passengers. Mr. Nguyen Huu Bac - General Director of Thai Son International Travel Company said: "The opening of the Vinh - Vientiane route has created favorable conditions for travel agencies to build Vinh - Vientiane tours by air, and at the same time, in Laos and the Northeastern provinces of Thailand, it is also easy to design many attractive tours and tourist routes." Along with Thai Son International Travel Company, Anh Em Travel Company, Nghe An Tourism Joint Stock Company, Van Hong Travel Center... are also actively developing Vinh - Vientiane tours by air.

The favorable start in opening the Vinh - Vientiane international flight route must be mentioned thanks to the timely support of relevant ministries and branches, especially Laos. Along with that is the investment cooperation efforts of Vietnam Airlines Corporation, Vietnam Airlines, Nghe An Provincial People's Committee... In particular, Nghe An province always pays attention to and invests capital to develop infrastructure, promote propaganda, and at the same time issues policies to support the exploitation of this new flight route, thereby encouraging officials, employees, and students to participate in work and travel by Vinh - Vientiane flight route. Responding to that policy, a number of levels and branches in the province have actively participated. Thanks to that, the number of passengers has increased rapidly recently. One of the units that has coordinated to organize and implement the new flight route well is the Department of Transport, which has encouraged officials and employees to work and travel to Laos by air. Or at the Driver Training and Testing Centers, officers and teachers with excellent achievements are able to travel to Laos by air. Mr. Ly Ngoc Hung - Director of VINASIN Driver Training Center said: "I have just been to Laos by air and it is very interesting, because the travel is very convenient. Implementing the policy of the Department, officers and teachers with excellent achievements will be rewarded with air travel to Laos". Up to now, the Transport sector has had 8 delegations of officers and employees to visit and learn experiences in Laos by air.

Vinh Airport is conveniently located to connect well with Noi Bai International Airport, Tan Son Nhat and neighboring airports, creating a nationwide network of civil aviation ports. Therefore, in recent years, the number of passengers traveling by air has skyrocketed (the volume of Vinh Airport has increased by about 150%/year). Therefore, Vinh Airport is implementing a project to build a modern and high-quality passenger terminal with an architecture simulating pink lotus petals. This project has a total investment capital of nearly 1,000 billion VND. Currently, contractors are focusing on machinery and human resources to speed up the progress and are determined to complete the project in the first quarter of 2015. Thus, Vinh Airport will have the capacity to serve 1,000 passengers/peak hour (equivalent to a capacity of 2 - 2.5 million passengers/year).

This will be an important condition for Vinh Airport to open a number of new domestic routes and medium-haul international routes to Bangkok (Thailand), Cambodia, Hainan (China), Singapore, Japan, Korea... Mr. Nguyen Hong Ky - Director of the Department of Transport said: "In the past, our province has issued many open mechanisms and policies and encouraged investors and major airlines to open new routes at Vinh Airport, so currently there are domestic routes such as Saigon - Vinh - Saigon, Hanoi - Vinh - Hanoi; Vinh - Buon Ma Thuot - Vinh; Vinh - Da Nang - Vinh and international route Vinh - Vientiane. In the coming time, we will continue to develop new domestic and international routes".

Hoang Vinh