National carrier Vietnam Airlines (VA) announced an increase on many international and domestic routes from October 25 this year to March 27 next year in response to increasing demand.
 International routes from Hanoi and HCMC to Paris, Frankfurt and Kunming would have one additional flight each week, said Le Hoang Dung, a senior VA official.
Beginning on the first of December, the number of flights from HCMC to Bangkok, Thailand, will double to 14 per week.
Since the beginning of this month, VA has added three flights to Pusan, the Republic of Korea, from Hanoi and HCMC, meaning customers may now choose from 10 flights each week. The number will increase to 12 flights per week from January 2010.
A new route from Fukuoka, Japan will begin on October 11 with two flights per week.
Domestic route increases have also been announced. Flights between Hanoi and HCMC will be increased by 20%, while the number of flights between Hanoi and HCMC, to Danang will go up by 15%.
From January 2010, there will be one more flight per week on routes between HCMC and Haiphong; HCMC and Vinh; and HCMC and Phu Quoc.
A new route connecting Hanoi to Tuy Hoa will open soon with three flights per week.
“VA will continue to alter its number of flights based on demand and capacity,” said Dung.
In the first eight months of the year, VA carried 2 million foreign customers, an 11% year-on-year reduction.
In the same period, the number of domestic customers rose by 12% to 4 million people.
Estimates show that domestic and foreign customers on VA flights during the last four months of the year will be 1.8 million and 1 million, respectively.
For the year, VA forecasts to carry 9 million customers, a year-on-year increase of 4%.
(Source: VNA)
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