Vietnam Airlines to increase flights for Tet

Vietnam Airlines on Monday announced a plan to add another 850 domestic flights next February to meet increased demand during the Tet holiday.
Under the month-long plan, the national carrier will add 562 flights on the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City-Hanoi route from February 1. The earliest flight will take off at 5.30 a.m. and the latest at 11.30 p.m.
Another 288 flights will be added to the HCMC-Da Nang-HCMC route, according to the airlines. The earliest flight is scheduled for 5.40 a.m. and the latest at 10 p.m.
Vietnam Airlines said it had also made plans for more flights on several other domestic routes like HCMC-Hue, and HCMC-Quy Nhon.
The number of Tet passengers is estimated to jump 20 percent year-on-year in 2010.
In the meantime, Thuong Thanh Hai, vice director of HCMC Ben Xe Mien Dong (Eastern Bus Station) said he was concerned that busses would be overloaded from February 2, when many people will return to their hometowns for Tet.
It is estimated that the number of passengers traveling through the station would increase 10 percent year on year, according to Hai.