A new terminal was opened at Da Nang international Airport to host the increasing number of tourists visiting the city. (Photo: VNA) Da Nang (VNS/VNA) – Da Nang’s international airport administration, in cooperationwith Chubu Centrair airport, Japan, plans to launch daily direct flightsconnecting the central city and Nagoya later this year.
Director of Da Nang International Airport Administration, Le Xuan Tung,said the two sides had agreed to host two chartered flights between Da Nang andNagoya in May and August of 2019 as part of a promotion programme to soonlaunch a daily direct flight in the fourth quarter.
Tung said the two airport authorities would ink a Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) during an investment and tourism promotion event in Nagoyaon February 20.
He said Chubu Centrair airport – which is one of the eight largestairports in Japan, has a similar capacity to the Da Nang airport as it hosted11.5 million tourists in 2017, and the national flag carrier Vietnam Airlineshad operated four chartered flights between Da Nang and Nagoya in 2018 as aprelude to launching a regular air route.
Tung said the operation of the direct flight aimed to boost investment,trade and tourism between the central city and Nagoya and other Japanesecities.
Da Nang is hometo 143 Japanese projects with total investment of 500 million USD, creating32,000 jobs for local and neighbouring provinces.
Japanese visitors were thesecond largest tourist segment in Da Nang last year, reaching more than 400,000– 10 times as many as in 2013.
National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines and budget Jetstar PacificAirlines already operate direct flights from Da Nang to Narita and Osaka.
Vietnam Airlines is currently thelargest airline with direct routes between Vietnam and Japan, with an averageof 70 flights per week. Since its first flight in 1994, the carrier has so fartransported 11.3 million passengers, accounting for 65 percent of the market.
It helped link major cities in Vietnamincluding Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang with Japan’s big cities such as Tokyo,Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka.
Japan plans to open a Consulate Generalin Da Nang to boost tourism and exchanges between Japan and the central city.
Da Nang has 23 international airroutes, of which 15 are regular direct flights, hosting 328 flights per weekand 2.3 million passengers. -VNS/VNA
