Vietravel Company has been granted a one-year monopoly on handling air routes connecting Can Tho City to Da Lat and Nha Trang City.

The route connecting Can Tho City and Lam Dong Province's Da Lat City was opened in late 2015 and the air route from Can Tho City to Khanh Hoa Province's Nha Trang City will be opened on January 21.

It takes more than 10 hours to travel by road from Can Tho to Da Lat City and 15 hours to Nha Trang. If people want to go by plane, they have go from Can Tho to Ho Chi Minh City for flights to Da Lat and Nha Trang.

Vietravel hopes local authorities will provide financial support to maintain the operation while the air routes are in their infancy.

However, Vo Thanh Thong, chairman of Can Tho City, said the number of tourists to the city is not very high and questioned the profitability of the air route.

The chairman of Khanh Hoa Province People's Committee, Le Duc Vinh, said, "The costs of Thai tours are low because they have great connection and synchronisation between destinations and services. Meanwhile, the travel cost from Nha Trang City to Hanoi is still high."

Vietravel was on January 14 given exclusive rights to both of the air routes for one year.

Vietravel is working with Vietnam Air Services Co (VASCO) for three flights per weeks for both the Can Tho-Da Lat and Can Tho-Nha Trang routes.

Dtinews