International, domestic flights to be increased

National carrier Vietnam Airlines (VA) announced an increase on many international and domestic routes from October 25 this year to March 27 next year in response to increasing demand.
International routes from Ha Noi and HCM Ciy to Paris, Frankfurt and Kunming would have one additional flight each week, said Le Hoang Dung, a senior VA official.
Beginning on the first of December, the number of flights from HCM City to Bangkok, Thailand, will double to 14 per week.
Since the beginning of this month, VA has added three flights to Pusan, South Korea, from Ha Noi and HCM City, meaning customers may how choose from 10 flights each week. The number will increase to 12 flights per week from January 2010.
A new route from Ha Noi to Fukuoka, Japan, will begin this Sunday with two flights per week.
Domestic route increases have also been announced.
Flights between Ha Noi and HCM City will be increased by 20 per cent, while the number of flights between Ha Noi and HCM City, to Da Nang will go up by 15 per cent.
From January 2010, there will be one more flight per week on routes between HCM City and Hai Phong; HCM City and Vinh; and HCM City and Phu Quoc.
A new route connecting Ha Noi to Tuy Hoa will open soon with three flights per week.
"VA will continue to alter its number of flights based on demand and capacity," said Dung.
In the first eight months of the years, VA carried 2 million foreign customers, an 11-per-cent year-on-year reduction.
In the same period, the number of domestic customers rose by 12 per cent to 4 million people.
Estimates show that domestic and foreign customers on VA flights during the last four months of the year will be 1.8 million and 1 million, respectively.
For the year, VA forecasts to carry 9 million customers, a year-on-year increase of 4 per cent.