Aircrafts at Da Nang International Airport. A new direct air route will connect the city and Vientiane, Laos from March 29. VNS Photo Cong Thanh

The city’s tourism promotion centre confirmed the new route on Thursday, stating the flight will depart on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.

Lao Airlines will use ATR-72 aircraft with 70 seats for the new flights, which will boost tourism, investment and trade between the two cities and northeast region of Thailand.

The Vientiane-Da Nang flight will take off from Lao at 11.10am before arriving at Da Nang International Airport at 12.50pm. Meanwhile, the flight will leave from Da Nang at 1.30pm, landing at Vientiane airport at 3.30pm.

Deputy director of the city’s tourism department Nguyen Xuan Binh said a series of tourism promotion events will be organised to mark the launch of the new air route, including fam trips, tourism exhibitions, fairs and roadshows in Da Nang, Vientiane and Luang Prabang.

One way tickets for the flight will be sold from US$190 to $392, while promotional fares will start from $25.

Lao Airlines offers ticket prices and information on the flight at www.laoairlines.com.

In 2012, Lao Airlines started the Pakse-Savannakhet-Da Nang flight, but stopped it in 2013. Da Nang and Laos decided to restart a direct flight in 2016, which was expected to help raise more investment from Da Nang to Laos in agriculture, mining, trade and tourism sectors.

Da Nang had built relationships with provinces in southern Laos and signed assistance projects for provinces in Laos worth a total of $2 million from 2013 to 2017.

The city inked 29 Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with cities and provinces such as Vientiane, Savannakhet, Champasak, Sekong, Salavan, Attapu, Bolikhamsay and Xaynhaburi.
Da Nang invested $52.3 million in Laos' garment, mine ore, industrial and agricultural sectors, but bilateral trade turnover could reach $2 billion.

Last year, Cambodia's Angkor Air also launched direct flights between Da Nang and Phnom Penh with four flights per week with an aim of promoting tourism links among Laos-Cambodia and Vietnam in the tourism development campaign: Three Countries – One Destination via border gates in the Central Highlands region. — VNS

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