The airports in Lam Dong province and Can Tho city are now operating,and the Phu Quoc Island airport is scheduled to open in thethird quarter of 2012.
Lai Xuan Thanh, deputy director ofthe Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam, said all three airports wouldconnect to international airports in Cambodia , Thailand , Singapore ,Malaysia , Japan and the Republic of Korea .
These airports are located in the country's major tourism regions.
The general director of the Vietnam National Administration ofTourism, Nguyen Van Tuan, said the airports would help develop PhuQuoc Island 's entertainment, sea and resort tourism and resorts inLam Dong province's Da Lat city and exploration of the Mekong Delta inCan Tho.
According to the aviation administrationstatistics, the local flights to three airports are highly booked,usually from 80 to 90 percent.
The general director of theSouthern Airports Corporation, Nguyen Nguyen Hung, said in the firsthalf of the year, the number of passengers through Can Tho Airportincreased by 30.3 percent, and cargo by 26 percent compared with 2009.
Da Lat's Lien Khuong Airport figures were 28.5 per ent and 25 percent.
Thanh said the administration would create every favourable condition for the airlines to open new routes.
They will cut airline companies' costs for arrival/departure,take-off/landing, security scans and the rental price of luggageconveyors.
Vo Huy Cuong, head of the administration'stransport department, said the low-cost airline Thai Air Asia also hadplans to open a non-stop route from Lien Khuong to internationaldestinations even though no specific plan has been implemented.
The chief representative of United Airlines in Viet Nam , ClodelaTy, said provinces and beneficiaries from new routes would help attracttourists and investors to Can Tho, Da Lat and Phu Quoc.
Nguyen Quoc Ky, general director of Vietravel Tourism Company, said morenew routes would facilitate the transport of the increasing number oftourists to Phu Quoc Island .
Cuong said Mekong Aviation, which has requested to change its name to Air Mekong, would make its maiden flight on October 10.
Air Mekong will use four Bombadier planes, manufactured in Canada .The first plane will be in Vietnam on August 15 for staff trainingand three others will arrive later in August and September.
Every flight will have 14 business seats and 76 economy seats, the sameprice as Vietnam Airlines. Air Mekong will have Ha Noi-Phu Quoc-HoChi Minh City route as well as others with more than 20 flights per day.With the participation of Air Meking, Vietnam will have fourairlines – Vietnam Airlines, Jetstar Pacific Airlines, Vasco and AirMekong – that will exploit local routes./.