Vietnam’s first privately-owned airport went into operation with the first commercial flight at Van Don Airport in Quang Ninh Province on December 30.

Vietnam Airlines launches first commercial flight to Van Don

The Vietnam Airlines flight from HCM City to Van Don landed at the airport at 9.25 am and the flight to HCM City departed at 10.30 am.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and leaders of related agencies were passengers on the first flights.

Return flights between HCM City-Van Don will operate once per day at 2 pm with the return flight at 4.45 pm, with an estimated flight time of two hours.

Duong Tri Thanh, director of Vietnam Airlines, said this was a part of their plan to expand domestic air routes and the tourism network in the northern coastal region. Vietnam Airlines will open new routes from Van Don to other Asian countries including South Korea, Japan and China in 2019.

Van Don International Airport costs nearly VND7.5trn (USD330m). VND734bn of which came from the provincial budget for ground clearance work. Sun Group invested VND6.7trn into the project which was completed after two years.

It is estimated to welcome around 500,000 passengers in the first year of operation, serving both civilian and military flights. It can serve large aircraft such as the Boeing 787, 777 and Airbus A350, A320.

Vietjet Air will be among the first airlines to launch flights to Van Don Airport.

Tien Phong/Dtinews