The national flagship carrier said on Sunday that it would provide the market with up to 1.6 million seats this summer, up 21% over normal days and 12% compared to the same period last year.

The number of seats will exceed 460,000 for the summer on the Hanoi-HCMC route, or from 5,000 to 5,500 daily seats per sector, an increase of 11% year-on-year and 18% over normal days.

Vietnam Airlines will offer over 210,000 seats for the HCMC-Danang route for the period, up 20% over the same period last year and 11% against normal days. The number of seats for the Hanoi-Danang route will surpass 190,000, representing a rise of 22% year-on-year and 38% over normal days.

The airline also plans significant increases in seating capacity for other routes, with more than 86,000 seats for the Hanoi-Nha Trang, 82,000 seats for the HCMC-Nha Trang and over 62,700 seats for the HCMC-Haiphong route.

These numbers register a 19% increase compared to the same period last year and up to 88% over normal days on the Hanoi-Nha Trang direction. The other two routes mark 10% and 24%, 15% and 16% respectively.

Vietnam Airlines said numbers of flights would surge on the routes from HCMC and Hanoi to other tourist areas, including Hue, Dalat, Phu Quoc, Vinh and Con Dao. The airline calculated it would conduct at least 56 daily flights to and from Danang, 34 flights to and from Nha Trang and 22 services to and from Phu Quoc on each of the peak days.

With the additional flights, Vietnam Airlines will operate up to 376 domestic and international flights a day during this summer, an increase of 27% compared to normal days.