Hanoi, Vietnam: The resumption of flights routes to China in April or May has been postponed by Vietnamese Airlines along with waiting for the next decisions of Beijing about the allowance of its tourists to Vietnam, as per the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), reported Viet Nam News reported.
According to the updates, in mid-February of 2023, China made the announcement regarding the reopening of tours to 20 countries, whereas Vietnam was however not included in the list of the countries, which resulted in impacted Vietnamese airlines flight plans.
Prior to that, the restriction on regular international flights was lifted by China on January 8, 2023; Vietnamese carriers had made plans on flights to the country with their focus on passengers visiting on business trips, relative visits, along with students studying abroad.
The reports stated that the plans were made to prepare for the recovery of bilateral tourism. “It was expected to increase the number of flights gradually from April,” said Viet Nam News.
However, following the new policy imposed by China, the nation has to postpone the resumption of the air routes temporarily till late April or May, depending on the next decision on China, according to the CAAV.
Moreover, in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, there were around 14 airlines in Vietnam and China operating sky routes between both nations.
Additionally, among them, 11 Chinese carriers operated 32 air routes from 14 destinations in China to five in Viet Nam, with a total of 240 flights each way per week, said reports.
According to Viet Nam News, three Vietnamese carriers (Vietnam Airlines, Vietjet Air, Jetstar Pacific Airlines) operated 72 air routes from five locations in Viet Nam and China in 48, with 421 flights per week in total.
Vietnamese carriers transferred nearly eight million passengers in 2019, which included over 4.6 million passengers or over 60 per cent of Vietnamese airlines, reports added.
In the end, China was the second biggest foreign market for Vietnamese airlines, after the Republic of Korea, and most passengers were tourists, data from the CAAV revealed. (ANI)
