The Van Don International Airport welcomes first international flight (Source: VNA) Quang Ninh (VNA) – The Van Don International Airport in the northernQuang Ninh province – Vietnam’s first private airport – welcomed its firstinternational flight on May 27 morning.
The charter flight, conductedby Donghai Airlines, departed from Bao’an airport in China’s Shenzhen city at11:05 pm on May 26 and arrived in Van Don airport at 1:30 am on May 27. It departedVan Don on the return leg to the Chinese city at 3:00 am the same day.
Speaking at a ceremonyto welcome the flight, Director of Van Don International Airport Pham Ngoc Sausaid that the airport will create the best conditions for the operation ofDonghai Airlines, and make efforts to promote Quang Ninh’s tourist attractions,such as Van Don and Ha Long Bay, to Shenzhen and the entire Chinese market.
The launch of the VanDon-Shenzhen air route marks the first step in the airport’s strategy toapproach the international market, Sau stated, adding that in June, Van Donwill see the open of more international routes such as the Van Don-Taiwan routeoperated by Bamboo Airways and the Van Don-Incheon (the Republic of Korea)route by Vietnam Airlines.
For the Chinesemarket, there will be air routes connecting Van Don with Hainan, Nanning, andGuangzhou in the time to come, he added.
The Van DonInternational Airport was officially put into operation in December 2018. Sincethe beginning of this year, the airport has served 664 flights with over 90,000passengers on board.
It has become thefirst Vietnamese airport listed among the top five airports with the highestpoints for quality services in the first quarter of the year, according to asurvey by the Airport Performance Measurement Programme.
The presence of theairport is expected to help Quang Ninh achieve its target of welcoming 15-16million tourists, including 7 million foreigners, by 2020 and 30 millionarrivals, including 15 million foreigners, by 2030.
Construction on Van Don International Airport started in 2015 on 288 ha in DoanKet commune, Van Don district. It is the first airport in Vietnam to operateunder the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.
The airport isexpected to have an annual capacity of 2-2.5 million passengers by 2020, whichwill increase to 5 million by 2030.–VNA
VNA
