HCMC - The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has given approval to Air Mekong to operate flights on 10 air routes within Vietnam from October 9.
CAAV’s deputy director general Lai Xuan Thanh told the Daily on Monday that Air Mekong got the ticket to fly between HCMC and Hanoi, and from these two biggest cities to other destinations in many different parts of Vietnam.
With the aviation authority’s approval, Air Mekong will have more than 30 daily domestic flights from HCMC and Hanoi to Danang, Nha Trang, Phu Quoc, Dalat as well as from HCMC to Con Dao, Buon Ma Thuot and other destinations, and vice versa.
Air Mekong plans to call a press conference in Hanoi later this week to detail its air routes as well as commercial policy for air tickets before commencing its services in October, a time that domestic demand for air travel starts to pick up.
Air Mekong has reported to CAAV on its first commercial passenger flights on October 9 and was urgently completing an air operator certificate (AOC), which is a must for the carrier if it wants to take off.
The Ministry of Transport awarded Air Mekong a license in October 2008 following the Prime Minister’s approval for the establishment of this third private airline in Vietnam after VietJet Air and Indochina Airlines.
VietJet Air has not publicized its updated plan to take off though it said earlier this year that it would fly in the fourth quarter of 2010. Meanwhile, financial woes have kept Indochina Airlines on the ground since late October 2009, or less than one year after it had launched services, and is now dealing with a series of complaints from ticket agents for not paying off their money deposits.
Air Mekong has an initial chartered capital of VND200 billion (more than US$10.2 million), which is the lowest level required for a local airline to conduct domestic flights.
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