VietNamNet Bridge – Lao Airlines on Tuesday officially launched direct flights from Laos’ Pakse to Danang nearly one year after piloting flights to the central coastal city, while Dragonair of Cathay Pacific also says it will open the Hong Kong-Danang service on March 28.

An ATR 72 that Lao Airlines uses for the newly-opened Pakse-Danang run is seen at the Danang Airport.

The Laotian carrier operates three weekly services between Pakse and Danang on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, using 68-seat ATR 72 planes.

The flight connects Vientian, Savannakhet, Pakse and Danang. It leaves Pakse at 2:05p.m. and arrives at Danang at 2:55p.m., and takes off in Danang at 3:55p.m. and lands in Pakse at 4:45p.m. Tickets are priced at VND2.2 million each for a single route or US$106, while one round-trip ticket sells for VND4.01 million or US$191.

Huynh Duc Trung, deputy director of travel management division of Danang City’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism, said the launch of the route is made possible due to great efforts between the two localities via a series of road shows, fairs, seminars and exhibitions. Specially, Lao Airlines has made great contribution to the route opening by conducting surveys and opening two pilot flights on the route on March 29 and April 1, 2012.

Besides shortening the distance between Pakse and Danang, the new service also helps satisfy rising travel demand to Danang from Vietnamese Laotian customers in Pakse, Savanakhet and Vientian along with visitors from Thailand’s Bangkok, Mukdahan and northeastern region.

On the same day, Dragonair also announced to launch the service connecting Hong Kong and Danang with three flights a week starting March 28. The subsidiary of Cathay Pacific will use Airbus 320 for the new route heading to Danang from Hong Kong every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday.

Dragonair now is operating ten flights on the Hong Kong-Hanoi service and vice versa, with Danang the second destination of the carrier in Vietnam.

According to Patrick Yeung, managing director of Dragonair, Vietnam now is considered an attractive destination in terms of investment and tourism, so the new air route will make it easier to increase the number of tourists between Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Futhermore, the Hong Kong-Danang service is also expected to help Vietnamese travelers to be able to use Dragonair services to travel to China or other destinations in the international networks of Cathay Pacific via Hong Kong as a transit hub.

Source: SGT