HÀ NỘI — A direct air route from HCM City to Quảng Ninh Province through Vân Đồn international airport will be launched on December 30, according to Vietnam Airlines (VNA). 

The HCM City-Vân Đồn air route will operate every day with an Airbus A321. The flight, lasting for about two hours, leaves from HCM City at 14.00 and Vân Đồn at 16.45. 

VNA has launched a promotion programme with tickets priced from VNĐ800,000 (around US$36) for economy class (excluding tax and expenditures). 

Dương Trí Thành, VNA’s general director, said the route is expected to strengthen connectivity between the south and the northeast, meeting tourism and trading demands between HCM City and Quảng Ninh Province and neighbouring localities. 

“The air route is within the strategic cooperative agreement between Quảng Ninh Province’s People’s Committee and Vietnam Airlines.” 

The designed capacity for the first phase of the airport is expected to serve two million passengers per year by 2020 and five million per year by 2030.

Construction on Vân Đồn International Airport, the first of its kind in Việt Nam invested by a private investor – SunGroup, started in 2015 with total investment of VNĐ7.5 trillion (US$330 million), and is scheduled to welcome around 500,000 passengers in the first year. 

Under a March decision by the Ministry of Transport, Vân Đồn will be an international airport, serving both civilian and military flights with a 3.6km-long runway.

Vân Đồn District is among three special economic zones planned in the country. Therefore, the airport is expected to boost the local economy, particularly tourism at UNESCO-recognised Hạ Long Bay. — VNS