Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue flies to inaugurate Bamboo Airways' new route to Vinh

Attending the ceremony were comrades: Vuong Dinh Hue - Member of the Politburo, Deputy Prime Minister; Uong Chu Luu - Member of the Party Central Committee - Vice Chairman of the National Assembly.with leaders of Central Ministries and Branches.

On the side of Nghe An province, there were comrades: Nguyen Xuan Son-Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council;Cao Thi Hien - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council; Phan Duc Dong - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Secretary of the Vinh City Party Committee; Huynh Thanh Dien - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and representatives of leaders of relevant departments and branches.

Solemn water cannon ceremony to welcome Bamboo Airways' Hanoi - Vinh flight. Photo: Duc Anh

Strengthening regional connectivity

Right before the opening ceremony, Vinh Airport and Nghe An Provincial People's Committee welcomed the first flight of Bamboo Airways with flight number QH7653 from Hanoi to Vinh carrying nearly 200 passengers, including Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, Head of the Central Economic Commission Nguyen Van Binh, Head of the Central Internal Affairs Commission Phan Dinh Trac to Vinh to attend the meeting with investors in Nghe An chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

At Vinh International Airport, Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue, Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Uong Chu Luu, and Chairman of the State Capital Management Committee at Enterprises Nguyen Hoang Anh attended the opening ceremony of four flight routes from Vinh including Vinh - Buon Ma Thuot, Vinh - Da Lat, Hanoi - Vinh and Ho Chi Minh City - Vinh.

Speaking at the event, Mr. Dang Tat Thang, General Director of Bamboo Airways, said that with an average growth rate of more than 15% per year, Vinh International Airport is one of the fastest growing airports in Vietnam. In just 5 years from 2012 to 2017, the number of passengers here has tripled from 638,000 to 1.8 million. This is also an airport that plays a very important role in the socio-economic development strategy of Nghe An province in particular and the North Central region in general.

However, many flights from Vinh to important destinations such as Hanoi, Da Nang, Buon Ma Thuot, Nha Trang… currently only have 1-2 flights/day, barely meeting the increasing travel needs of passengers.

Deputy Prime Minister Vuong Dinh Hue and many senior leaders arrived in Vinh on Bamboo Airways flight QH7653. Photo: Duc Anh

“After Bamboo Airways opens four new routes from Vinh to Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Buon Ma Thuot and Da Lat, the initial frequency of domestic flights at Vinh Airport will be increased to at least 20 round trips per day. We are also continuing to plan to open international routes from here, with the first destinations expected to be Thailand and Singapore,” said Mr. Thang.

Combined with the tourism and resort products that FLC Group is investing and developing in Nghe An province, the General Director of Bamboo Airways expects to form a synchronous ecosystem that fully serves both the travel and accommodation needs of tourists, thereby better exploiting the local tourism potential.

Delegates attending the ceremony. Photo: Duc Anh

Mr. Dang Tat Thang - General Director of Bamboo Airways spoke at the opening ceremony. Photo: Duc Anh

Assessing this as a meaningful and very important event for the locality, Mr. Huynh Thanh Dien - Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee emphasized: "The opening of 4 routes by Bamboo Airways will continue to create favorable conditions for people and passengers to travel, contributing to tourism development, attracting investment and cooperation between Nghe An province in particular and the North Central region in general; creating a driving force to promote socio-economic development of Nghe An province and the region".

It is expected that 3 routes Vinh - Ho Chi Minh City, Vinh - Hanoi, Vinh - Buon Ma Thuot will be operated by Bamboo Airways with a frequency of at least 7 round trips/week. The Vinh - Da Lat route will also be operated with a frequency of 4 round trips/week; flight schedules are on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday of the week.

On this occasion, Bamboo Airways continues to launch a ticket sales program with a particularly attractive starting price of only 149,000 VND, excluding taxes and fees.

Comrade Huynh Thanh Dien - Vice Chairman of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee awarded a Certificate of Merit to Bamboo Airways. Photo: Duc Anh

Moving towards international flights in the second quarter of 2019

Officially taking off on January 16, before arriving in Vinh, Bamboo Airways had operated 12 domestic routes, conducted nearly 1,000 flights and transported about 90,000 passengers. The airline's high on-time performance and attentive 5-star service received many positive responses from customers and the community.

Central and local leaders cut the ribbon to inaugurate four new routes from Vinh by Bamboo Airways. Photo: Duc Anh

In addition, the airline is also promoting plans for international flights to Asia, Europe, and Australia to be implemented from the second quarter of 2019 with the first destinations expected to be Thailand, Korea, Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, and Australia.

For the US market, the airline is researching a number of destinations such as Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco... to be able to open direct flights to this country in late 2019 or early 2020, after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced the approval of the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam to achieve FAA's level 1 (CAT 1) aviation safety rating.

To implement this plan, from March to June 2018, Bamboo Airways signed two agreements to purchase 44 A321 NEO and 787-9 Dreamliner aircraft worth 8.8 billion USD from two major international partners, Airbus and Boeing. In the coming time, the airline will receive 30 new aircraft, bringing the total number of aircraft to 40-50 in 2019, while promoting the signing of cooperation agreements with prestigious international partners.

Immediately after the opening of 4 new routes of Bamboo Airways, the Spring Meeting with Investors in Nghe An officially took place with the participation of nearly 500 domestic and foreign investors and enterprises.

On the same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc met and had direct dialogue with many large enterprises participating in large-scale investment in Nghe An such as FLC Group, Mitsubishi, WHA, Vietinbank, Massan…; with the goal of continuing to improve the investment environment, creating favorable conditions for enterprises to do business and contribute more to the socio-economic development of the locality as well as the whole country.

Dinh Nguyet - Duc Anh