Local carriers boost presence

Air Mekong passengers now find it more convenient to book air tickets after Halong Investment and Development Ltd., or BIM Group, and VNPost have clinched a strategic partnership, while Vietnam Airlines has opened a new ticketing office to reach out to passengers.
Customers can book tickets of Air Mekong under BIM Group and pay at nearly 18,000 post offices of VNPost nationwide. In return, the group provides its partner with air transportation services including postal parcels. VNPost will enable BIM Group to use a variety of insurance products of Post-Telecommunication Insurance Corp. as part of the partnership, whose primary objective is to optimize advantages of both sides.
BIM Group and VNPost expect their long-term partnership to create more benefits for their customers in the coming years. For instance, VNPost clients will be able to enjoy more competitive fees and services provided by Air Mekong.
Air Mekong now flies between HCMC and Hanoi, and from these two cities to different business and leisure sites including Phu Quoc, Dalat, Buon Ma Thuot, Pleiku and Con Dao. On April 28, the private carrier will launch its direct service between Hanoi and Phu Quoc off mainland Kien Giang Province in the Mekong Delta.
Air Mekong will use the 90-seat Bombardier CRJ 900 to transport tourists and business passengers on the longest domestic air route in Vietnam.
Doan Quoc Viet, chairman of Air Mekong, said the new air route would open a new development of the start-up airline.
It will take Air Mekong’s Bombardier CRJ 900 more than two hours to finish the Hanoi-Phu Quoc journey, or half of the time for passengers to travel by air between the two destinations via a stopover in HCMC as currently.
In an effort to attract more passengers, the Southern Regional Office of Vietnam Airlines has inaugurated a ticketing office at Hung Vuong Plaza in HCMC’s District 5.
Vietnam Airlines said the new ticketing office was open from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1:30 p.m. and 5 p.m. on weekends and holidays. Passengers can get advice on all products of the airline at the sixth office in this economic hub of the country and the tenth in southern Vietnam.