Indochina carriers Vietnam Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air are to increase the number of domestic and international bellyhold routes they operate.
The airlines are to start new and additional connections between Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as further links to and from Laos and Myanmar during 2016. Vietnam Airlines holds a 49 per cent stake in Cambodia Angkor Air.
Vietnam Airlines’ trunk routes linking Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City and Danang, and Hanoi and Danang will see capacity increased in 2016. Nha Trang has an additional daily service from Hanoi, up from three to four flights per day, and a further service from Ho Chi Minh City, up from four to five services per day.
The island of Phu Quoc now sees six flights per day from Ho Chi Minh City, up from four, whilst operations from Hanoi increase from a single daily service to a twice daily service.
Services between Vietnam and Myanmar continue to expand with a total of seven flights per week between Hanoi and Yangon (up from five) and five flights per week from Ho Chi Minh City (up from three), all operated by Airbus A321 aircraft.
Cambodia Angkor Air is introducing a six times a week service linking Sihanoukville with Ho Chi Minh City, effective 17 June 2016, along with a thrice weekly service linking Siem Reap with Danang, effective 1 July 2016.
Also planned for 2016 is a new route connecting Siem Reap with Hanoi. These complement the existing domestic flights linking Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, of which there are 42 flights per week.
Vietnam Airlines UK general manager, Le Thanh Dzung says the carrier’s Dreamliner service presently operating six non-stop flights a week from Heathrow to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City will become a daily operation from 3 July 2016.
He adds the new connections and combined operations with Cambodia Angkor Air elsewhere in Indochina will give it an “unrivalled network to and within the region”.
