A tourist visits Đà Nẵng City on a flight of budget carrier AirAsia. The city will welcome two air routes from Bali, Indonesia and Manila, the Philippines on March 20. — VNS Photo Công Thành

ĐÀ NẴNG — Đà Nẵng is set to welcome tourists from Bali and Manila as part of its ambitious tourism drive, partnering with AirAsia to boost arrivals and revenue this year.

The central city, in co-operation with the Thai budget carrier, will host two new flights to Đà Nẵng International Airport, aiming to help the city reach 19.1 million visitors and generate an estimated VNĐ70 trillion (US$2.8 billion) in 2026.

The city’s tourism promotion centre said the flights are scheduled to arrive on the evening of March 20, bringing travellers from the world-famous destinations of Bali and the Philippines just in time for the summer holidays.

A source at the Đà Nẵng International Terminal Investment and Operation Joint Stock Company (AHT), which operates International Terminal No 2, revealed that AirAsia will use Airbus A320 aircraft for both routes, operating four flights per week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

AHT said the terminal has implemented multiple automated service systems, including self-service bag drops, check-in kiosks, auto boarding gates, video call kiosks, multi-language information search screens, and the Auto Gate, an automatic immigration declaration system, establishing the first smart terminal in central Việt Nam.

Đà Nẵng International Airport is the first in the country to offer fully automated services for passengers from check-in to boarding, enhancing convenience and efficiency for incoming travellers.

International Terminal No 2 at Đà Nẵng International Airport offers many automatic service systems at the terminal in buiding it the first 'smart' airport in Việt Nam. — Photo courtesy of AHT

Tourism and aviation are key drivers of Đà Nẵng’s socio-economic growth, with the city welcoming 17.8 million visitors in 2025, the city’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Department reported.

To meet rising demand for tourism, investment and logistics through 2030–50, the city plans to invest $10 billion to upgrade Chu Lai International Airport, aiming to make it the first International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) 4F-standard airport in central Việt Nam.

Đà Nẵng and Chu Lai airports currently operate 26 air routes, including 18 international, with 132 flights per day, the department said. More than 30 airlines have registered daily flights linking domestic and international destinations.

Last year, Đà Nẵng International Airport was ranked among the top five airports capable of handling four to 20 million passengers annually, one of only two Vietnamese airports to feature in the list announced at Routes Asia 2024 in Malaysia.

The airport has also launched expansion projects, including a new cargo terminal, infrastructure upgrades and the expansion of Terminal 1 to handle 100,000 tonnes of cargo annually from 2026. — VNS