Two staff of Starlux Airlines, an international airline from Taiwan, check the self-bag drop system at International Terminal of Đà Nẵng International Airport. — VNS Photo Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG — Good quality air routes and convenient services would help create smooth conditions for boosting investment and tourism between the centre of Việt Nam and Taiwan.

It’s the reason Starlux Airlines, an international airline from Taiwan, will start a new route connecting the favourite destination of the Phú Quốc Islands and Taipei, following success on its routes from Hà Nội, HCM City and Đà Nẵng. The carrier's current flights include Hà Nội-Taipei, HCM City-Taipei, Đà Nẵng-Taichung, Đà Nẵng-Taipei and Phú Quốc-Taipei.

Head of the Starlux office in Đà Nẵng, Elvis Chao, said the airlines has seen a significant growth of Đà Nẵng-Taiwan route since it resumed in 2022 and Starlux is one of five other airlines currently flying Đà Nẵng-Taiwan route.

“Currently we operate ten flights weekly from Đà Nẵng; including a daily flight to Taipei and three weekly flights to Taichung. Starlux also offers various US-bound routes for oversea Vietnamese people connect to Đà Nẵng, we are operating at Los Angeles, San Francisco, and from August, Seattle.”

He said Việt Nam is a very important market for Starlux and Taiwan Airlines aims to connect Việt Nam to North America via Taiwan, while Đà Nẵng is the main gateway into central Việt Nam.

“Đà Nẵng City is one of Taiwanese’s favorite destinations in Southeast Asia because of its beautiful scenery and charming history, through promotion of social media and travel agencies. It is not only tourism, we have seen some Taiwanese enterprises moving their facilities to the Đà Nẵng high-tech park and in central Việt Nam, and more businesses from Taiwan expect to come,” he said.

Passengers check-in at Đà Nẵng International Airport for flight to Taiwan. The Đà Nẵng-Taipei and Đà Nẵng-Taichung carry 9,000 passengers between Đà Nẵng and Taiwan. VNS Photo Công Thành

“It means that Đà Nẵng is equally important as the two other major cities in Việt Nam, while our airlines’ load factor remains high and keeps growing steadily in the Taiwan-Đà Nẵng route.”

The head said that the new routes connecting Taiwan and Việt Nam would further promote inward tourism and investment.

“We have carried several Vietnamese tour groups to Taiwan since 2024. Some passengers shared their experience on social media and we believe that with more sharing of such, more Vietnamese people would be interested in traveling to Taiwan,” he explained.

“Currently our two main hubs in Taiwan, Taipei and Taichung, operate direct flights to Đà Nẵng. And in Việt Nam, besides Đà Nẵng, Hà Nội, HCM City and up-coming Phú Quốc, we are expecting more destinations in Việt Nam so please stay tuned.”

Đà Nẵng is one of the first destinations that Starlux started operations in 2020 and thanks to Việt Nam’s e-visa policy, the number of Taiwanese passengers is growing rapidly.

Starlux has included self check-in and bag drop services to help create a more seamless and hassle free airport experience when flying with Starlux.

The initiatives have led to it being voted one of the ‘Tech-leading Airlines’ at Đà Nẵng International Airport by the international terminal operation AHT Company.

Starlux’s flights have already carried at least 9,000 passengers from Taiwan to Đà Nẵng.

Elvis Chao, head of Starlux Airlines' Đà Nẵng office inspects a newly launched Self Bag Drop service. It was one of the very first airlines to start the service in Việt Nam. — VNS Photo Công Thành

Elvis Chao stressed that in a competitive market, the Starlux ticket price is no different than other major full-service airlines, but its fleets are the newest and the service one of the highest quality.

Đà Nẵng has called for investment from Taiwan in education and in hi-tech projects in the Đà Nẵng Information Technology Park.

According to the city's Investment Promotion Centre, Chinese Taipei has invested in 20 projects worth US$188 million.

Last year, Taiwan’s Foxlink International company started construction of an electronics factory project worth US$135 million, promising a surge in hi-tech industries at the ‘green’ hub. — VNS