Air Mekong and Vietnam Air Services Co. (Vasco) are operating many more flights to Con Dao off the coast of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province as demand for air travel to this exotic tourist destination is forecast to surge in the summer holiday.
Vasco will fly between the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho and Con Dao from June 1 four times a week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays in the initial time, and will consider a frequency increase later if demand gets higher.
Vasco Director Bui Ngoc Hoang said that the flights to and from Con Dao would use the ATR72-500 plane in a long term rather than for the summer only.
Hoang said a market survey conducted by Vasco recently indicated that the demand of people in the Mekong Delta region for travel to Con Dao to explore sites of natural and historical values was very high. This is one of the reasons for the subsidiary of Vietnam Airlines to fly more to Con Dao.
Vasco currently operates from 21 to 24 weekly flights between HCMC and Con Dao, and plans to increase the frequency on this short-haul route to 28 a week, or four times a day in summertime, Hoang said.
In August last year, Vasco opened its ticketing on Con Dao and Hoang told the inauguration ceremony there that fast socio-economic and tourism development had contributed much to frequency increase on the HCMC-Con Dao route.
Local tourism sources said Con Dao had posted annual double-digit growth in the number of visitors over the past years and put the number of travelers last year at over 70,000. More luxury resorts have been up and running on the archipelago, including Six Senses Con Dao.
Meanwhile, the private carrier Air Mekong has raised frequencies from HCMC to Con Dao, which together with Halong Bay has been internationally recognized in the top 10 most outstanding islands in the world for an ideal holiday.
Truong Thanh Vu of Air Mekong said that the airline had a daily service on the HCMC-Con Dao route, instead of two to three flights a week as previously.
Vu also provided updates about its daily flight from HCMC to Quy Nhon City. Starting on June 1, this service is scheduled to depart from Tan Son Nhat Airport at 8:40 a.m. and from the central coastal city at 10:15 a.m.
In the next few days, Air Mekong will sell fares from VND800,000 (less than US$39) to VND1 million for a one-way flight on the new route that the carrier just announced over the weekend. These fares are exclusive of airport tax and surcharges.
Jetstar Pacific, meanwhile, will resume its daily service between Hanoi and Nha Trang on May 24 about eight months after suspension, and will fly two times a day from next month till October.