The low-cost carrier Vietjet Air is finalizing procedures to launch a direct air route between Viet Nam’s northern port city of Hai Phong to Busan in the Republic of Korea (RoK), reported the Viet Nam Investment Review.
Busan port city is one of the biggest economic centres of the RoK with many tourist destinations.
A market survey of Vietjet Air showed that the Hai Phong-Busan route potential is high, thus the opening of an air route between the two localities is necessary to meet the demand in goods transport, trade and travel of people between the two sides.
The air route is also expected to help facilitate socio-economic development of Hai Phong and the whole northeastern coastal region in general.
As one of the important commercial and industrial hub in northern Viet Nam, Hai Phong is striving to make tourism a spearhead economic sector and turn itself into one of the nation’s key tourism destinations.
According to the municipal People’s Committee’s action programme on tourism development from 2017–2020 with a vision through 2030, the city hopes to receive 8 million tourists and earn 3.5 trillion VND (154 million USD) with expected annual average growth rates of between 8.2 percent and 8.9 percent.
With a fleet of 56 aircraft, including A320s and A321s, Vietjet Air operates 385 flights each day. The airline has already transported more than 55 million passengers on a network featuring 82 routes in Viet Nam and across the region to international destinations such as Thailand, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar and Cambodia.
The airline plans to operate more than 120,000 flights and serve over 24.1 million passengers by the end of 2018. Additionally, it will provide services on a total of 100 air routes, including 39 domestic and 61 international airways.