CAAV announces four new domestic routes

      The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has publicized four new domestic air routes that have been adjusted to make them shorter in a move to help airlines cut operating costs in this challenging time.
The new routes - the W22 extended air link between Meova and Noi Bai Airport, the W10 extended Phu Bai-Pleiku, the W17 Tan Son Nhat-Baven and the W12 Can Tho-Buon Ma Thuot - are expected to be put into use from early next month.
The adjusted routes will be ready on July 2, CAAV general director Pham Quy Tieu said at a conference organized in Hanoi on Wednesday to introduce the new air links and changes to air operations.
CAAV has adjusted six current other domestic routes for international flights, including those between Vinh and Danang, Phu Cat and Can Tho, An Loc and Cam Ranh, Tan Son Nhat and Can Tho, and Noi Bai and Na San.
The Vietnam News Agency quoted Bui Van Vo, director of CAAV's Air Operation Department, as saying that the new and adjusted routes would help airlines reduce flying time by at least three minutes per flight.
Vietnam Airlines and its subsidiary Vietnam Air Service Co. (VASCO), Jetstar Pacific and Indochina Airlines now operate domestic flights on around 28 routes within the country. VietJet Air is expected to join the market in the fourth quarter of this year.
The airlines estimate it costs an aircraft around US$400 to fly for a minute, so they are urgently preparing plans for making full use of the new and adjusted routes.
Vietnam Airlines, the national flag carrier, has announced to use the new routes from July 2 as it will be able to reduce flying time by three to five minutes on the north-south route, and by even seven minutes for the service between Tan Son Nhat Airport and Phu Quoc off mainland Kien Giang province.
Vietnam Airlines will operate some 17,920 flights a year on the four new routes, according to the Vietnam News Agency.
Jetstar Pacific, the second largest carrier in Vietnam, has not unveiled plans to capitalize on the new routes. However, the airline's chief commercial officer Nguyen Thi Thuy Binh said the carrier hailed the introduction of such routes as this would benefit airlines and customers.
"The new and adjusted routes will help us save huge fuel costs and boost profit, thus allowing us to offer more low-priced fares," Binh told the Daily on the phone on Wednesday.
Vietnam's first private operational carrier, Indochina Airlines, has not revealed its plan, but CAAV's Air Transport Department director Vo Huy Cuong told the Daily that the authority would create favorable conditions for all local carriers to cash in on the new and adjusted routes.