VietNamNet Bridge - Air New Zealand on Sunday, June 5 opened a direct air route between New Zealand and HCM City, the first of its kind flight between the two countries.

The Auckland-HCM City route will have the maximum flights in the season from June to October with three flights per week. The Boeing 767-300 aircraft will be used on the route.

Minister for Economic Development, Tertiary Education, Skills and Employment Steven Joyce said this event opened a new page to get people of the two countries closer. This was also an important landmark for co-operation in the field of transport and to enhance the relationship between the two sides.

The direct route is expected to help businesses of the two countries develop co-operation in education, tourism and economy, especially once the two sides are joined together by the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The route is part of the airline's network expansion plan in Southeast Asia and is its key strategy in the Pacific belt.

Minister of Transport Truong Quang Nghia emphasised that besides co-operation in civil aviation, the two countries needed to strengthen meeting, exchanging information and seeking opportunities for co-operation in the areas of investment in transport infrastructure, human resource training, sharing experiences in maritime safety and aviation security.

The Vietnam government will create an open, favourable and fair business environment for investors and foreign businesses to meet the demand of integration in the new stage, Nghia said.

HCM City is the 30^th destination of the Air New Zealand airline.

There were some 4,000 Vietnamese passengers who visited New Zealand from early this year until the end of March. The volume of visitors from New Zealand to Viet Nam in 2015 increased by 20 per cent from 33,000 visitors in 2014.

VNA/VNN