BÌNH ĐỊNH — The Civil Aviation Administration of Việt Nam, the Vietnam Airlines Corporation and domestic carriers have backed a plan to launch international flights from Phù Cát Airport in Quy Nhơn City, Bình Định Province.

The move was made after the provincial People’s Committee asked the Ministry of Transport to allow international flights to operate out of Phù Cát Airport to cope with the growing number of tourists.

Domestic carriers Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air and Bamboo Airways have a plan to open international flights to serve tourists from Quy Nhơn to Thailand, Japan, South Korea and China in 2019.

Hồ Quốc Dũng, chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said tourism development was a priority for the local economy.

To promote tourism development, the province had implemented tourism promotion activities, he said.

In 2017, Bình Định welcomed 3.7 million tourists, up 15.6 per cent over 2016, and 3.4 million tourists in the first nine months of this year.

The Vietnam Airlines Corporation (ACV) has completed infrastructure at the airport including a parking lot and domestic terminal to meet the demands of domestic and international passengers.

ACV is also upgrading the airport’s old terminal to serve international tourists.

At the recent meeting with Bình Định Province, Minister of Transport Nguyễn Văn Thể supported the plan to open international flights to and from Phù Cát Airport and to improve infrastructure to meet international standards.

In May, ACV officially moved its operations to Phù Cát Airport’s new terminal.

Vietnam Airlines is operating 35 flights per week to and from the city, including 14 flights between Hà Nội and Quy Nhơn and 21 flights between HCM City and Quy Nhơn.

Quy Nhơn City is striving to welcome 4.67 million tourists by 2020. — VNS