Vietjet Air, the national low-cost carrier, has plans in the works to open air routes to and from Van Don International Airport in the northern province of Quang Ninh starting from mid-January 2019.
Luu Duc Khanh, Vietjet Air CEO, unveiled the information during a working session with Quang Ninh province’s People’s Committee on December 4.
Mr. Khanh said the airline is expected to launch air routes to and from Van Don International Airport between January 15 and 20, 2019.An official announcement will be made after the airline arranges their fleet of aircraft and completes all other related formalities.
The province of Quang Ninh will provide support to the airline in terms of communication, advertisement and locations in which to open ticket agents within the locality. In addition, it will also offer travel services from Van Don to Ha Long and free sightseeing tours to a number of tourist attractions for passengers who use the airline.
Previously, Viet Nam’s national carrier flag Vietnam Airlines had opened an air route from Tan Son Nhat to Van Don. However, the route only had one flight per day using an Airbus A321. The flight from Tan Son Nhat airport takes off at 14:00 and lands at Van Don airport at 16:05, whilst on the return journey it departs from Van Don at 16:45 and lands at Tan Son Nhat at 18:50.
An economy class one-way ticket is priced at VND800,000, excluding taxes and fees. All tickets for the first flight from Tan Son Nhat airport on December 30 have been sold.
Van Don International Airport is a private airport with a total investment capital of more than VND7,400 billion and operates under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model. The airport has the capability to welcome 7,000 passengers each day and aims to welcome 2.5 million passengers by 2020.