VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Transport is preparing to open a new flight path connecting Ha Noi and HCM City.

The new flight path, approved by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung late last year, aims to serve increasing air traffic on the country's busiest route.

Chief of the Civil Aviation Authority of Viet Nam Lai Xuan Thanh said the new flight path would run parallel with the current route. The distance between the two flight paths would be about 30 kilometres, he said.

The route was designed to serve northbound flights from HCM City, while the current flight path would be used in the opposite direction, he said.

Statistics from the agency showed that the number of flights was rising 8-10 per cent annually, and the north-south flight path accounted for 70 per cent of air traffic in the country.

In the 1980s, there were only a few dozen domestic and international flights a day. Now, the number is up to 1,250 flights each day.

Additionally, Viet Nam is also a gateway to the Asia-Pacific region, where air traffic is forecast to see a three-fold increase by 2030.

The agency also said air traffic controllers working in Ha Noi and HCM City had to deal with an average of 30-35 flights per hour. Such a high frequency poses risks to flight safety, especially during bad weather conditions.

"Now is the time to make a change and open a new flight path," Thanh said.

The long-awaited decision would also shorten travel times and save on fuel costs for airlines operating on the route, he said.

VNS