Vietnam seeks shorter international air routes

The Civil Aviation Administration is negotiating with neighboring countries to shorten some commercial air routes. Success in the negotiations not only will bring economic benefits to airlines, but also help bring more money to Vietnam, for it will be able to attract more transit flights.
Proposed shortcuts
Commercial aircraft fly along designated corridors between waypoints . An article in Tuoi Tre Daily reports that Vietnam’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAAV) has proposed to establish a new international air route between the Cam Ranh waypoint and ‘Mesox,’ a move which if approved would cut five minutes from the flight time for service between HCM City’s Tan Son Nhat airport and points in Northeast Asia.
Agreement to a proposed corridor between Phu Cat/Chu Lai and ‘Bunta’ would shorten HCM City to Hong Kong flights by nine minutes. The proposed Noi Bai/Cat Bi-Sikou (China) air route would shave flight time from Hanoi to Hong Kong, Guang Zhou, and Macau by up to 15 minutes.
CAAV is also negotiating to set up some other international air corridors, including Vientiane-Siem Riep-Tan Son Nhat and Pakse/Vibun (Laos) – Poipet (Cambodia) which could serve as alternatives for Vietnamese airlines’ north-south flights when there are storms in central Vietnam.
Difficult negotiations
Senior CAAV official Bui Van Vo said that the agency is in a second round of negotiations with Laos, Cambodia and China. It is expected that discussion of Vietnam’s proposals to adjust the flight corridors between Vietnam and other countries will move in mid-September to the regional (Asia-Pacific) level.
CAAV Deputy Director Lai Xuan Thanh believes that revised air routes would not only bring economic benefit to Vietnam, but also benefit Laos, Cambodia and China. Negotiating such changes takes much time and attention to procedure, he added. First, CAAV must secure agreement with Vietnam’s air defense agencies. Only then can CAAV will negotiate with other countries, reporting outcomes to the Prime Minister and then to the International Civil Aviation Organisation.
A member of the negotiations taskforce said that talks with Laos and Cambodia always go more smoothly than talks on such matters with China. He recalled that the negotiation on Hanoi-Kunming air route lasted five years.
One minute of flight = $400
According to Thanh, the proposed adjustments to flight corridors will bring high benefit, though the exact economic benefit for airlines still remains unknown pending the outcome of the negotiations.
Vietnam Airlines has estimated that it can save $400 per every flight minute reduction. The national air carrier has estimated that, following the shortening of four domestic routes, it can save several hundred billion dong annually. (One billion dong = $56,000.)