Vietnam’s national flag carrier, Vietnam Airlines, on December 23 announced that it will launch a new service between Vinh city in the central province of Nghe An and the Lao capital city of Vientiane, from January 12, 2014.

It will be the first new international route run by the carrier in 2014, following the five newly-operated ones in 2013, thus expanding its network to 93 destinations, including 29 international and 21 domestic ones.

The carrier is expected to operate four flights per week, on every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, by ATR-72 aircraft, on this new route.

The flights will depart from Vinh airport at 8:40 am and from Vientiane airport at 10:40 am (local time).

On this occasion, the carrier will offer a promotional program for a round-trip ticket on the Vinh – Vientiane route worth 825,000 VND (around 39 USD, excluding taxes, fees and surcharges).

These tickets are sold to passengers in Vietnam from now to February 23, 2014, for their trips between January 12 and March 31, 2014.

On December 23, the Ho Chi Minh City-based Tan Son Nhat international airport welcomed the 20 millionth passenger on flight VN231 conducted by Vietnam Airlines.

The carrier has so far this year carried 9.4 million passengers to and from the Tan Son Nhat airport, accounting for 46 percent of its total passengers.-VNA