Gov’t says fuel-saving HCMC-Hanoi air route not yet doable

      The government has said that a former airline pilot’s plan for a shorter air route between the capital and Ho Chi Minh City is still not yet feasible.
Former airline and military pilot Mai Trong Tuan sought approval for the route at a meeting Thursday in which he said the shorter distance would save fuel and sharply reduce flight time. His idea was to fly a direct straight line from Hanoi to HCMC, over Laos and Cambodia, instead of veering east over the East Sea.
But the Vietnam Civil Aviation Administration (VCAA) said at the meeting that the route was “neither technically reasonable nor economically efficient.”
Tuan said flights from Hanoi to HCMC could be reduced to 1,000 kilometers from 1,200 kilometers.
Flight time would also decrease to only 80 minutes from 105 minutes, Tuan said, adding that the new route will also save one fifth of the 25,000 liters of gasoline now used per flight. He also estimated ticket prices could be 16 percent cheaper.
Tuan said his new route would fly inland, which is less dangerous than the current route, which at one point flies 100 kilometers offshore into the East Sea.
Airplanes taking the current route starting from Hanoi fly over the territorial waters of Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Tri and Thua Thien-Hue provinces, as well as the city of Da Nang, before turning inland to Buon Me Thuot toward HCMC, according to Tuoi Tre newspaper.
As the new route would have Vietnamese planes flying over Laos and Cambodia, Tuan said Lao and Cambodian airlines could also benefit from the use of Vietnamese airspace, which is much larger than that of the two countries.
He also said the Flight Information Region fees for Laos and Cambodia would be offset by the lower fuel expenses.
A Flight Information Region is an aviation term used to describe airspace in which Flight Information Services and other alert services are provided.
But Bui Van Vo, a senior official from VCAA, said at the meeting that the air route Tuan recommended could not be opened at this moment for many reasons, mainly because more infrastructure needed to be set up.
Vo said flying over other countries’ airspace and Vietnam’s border areas was a delicate issue. Laos and Cambodia needed to set up their own regulations first, which Vietnamese airlines would have to comply with, before opening the route, he told Tuoi Tre newspaper earlier.
VCAA Deputy Director Lai Xuan Thanh said relevant agencies would continue to study Tuan’s recommendation. He said Tuan’s route was similar to one the three countries had previously discussed establishing.
“The route will obviously help reduce the flight time,” the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines’ former deputy general director Nguyen Thanh Trung told Tuoi Tre newspaper earlier.
“But to open the route, many steps need to be taken by all three countries. I believe the two other countries [Laos and Cambodia] will be eager to share their airspace as they can profit from such a move.
But Trung wondered if the amount saved from flying on the new route will offset the fees paid for flying over the two neighbors. “Vietnam’s air traffic control departments would also lose some revenues due to the fee transfer.”
Low-cost airline Jetstar Pacific General Director Luong Hoai Nam told Tuoi Tre newspaper earlier that the development of a new air route was “good news.”
“We always look for the shortest flight routes with short flight times and low costs,” he was quoted as saying.