The flight No. DZ62249, which departed from Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport in China, was operated by China’s Donghai Airlines that exploits the Van Don-Shenzhen route with charter flights twice a week on Monday and Friday.

A ceremony with a memorable water salute and ribbon cutting to mark the new air route was held at the airport, with the presence of Quang Ninh’s Vice Chair Dang Huy Hau, representatives from local agencies, Van Don Airport, and related airlines.

Addressing the ceremony, Pham Ngoc Sau, director of Van Don International Airport, promised to ensure the best conditions for Donghai Airlines’ operations, while simultaneously stepping up promotion activities about Van Don and Ha Long destinations in Shenzhen province and the larger Chinese market.

Sau said that the launching of the Van Don-Shenzhen route is a stepping stone for Van Don Airport to embrace its strategy of heading towards global markets, beginning with Asia’s most populous markets like China, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea, and Japan.

Accordingly, in June 2019 Van Don Airport will open new routes to other international destinations, such as Van Don-Taiwan (Bamboo Airways) or Van Don-Incheon (South Korea, by Vietnam Airlines).

Regarding the Chinese market, there will be new routes to Hainan, Nanning, and Guangzhou, Sau revealed.

“Late this year, we will receive flights from Japan and Bangkok, while our domestic flight network will continue to expand with flights to Da Nang and to Phu Quoc Island,” Sau said.

After nearly five months in operation, Van Don International Airport has been continuously opening new routes to destinations at home and abroad and got plaudits from prestigious ratings agencies for its comprehensive infrastructure and service quality.

From the onset of 2019, the airport welcomed more than 90,000 passengers with 664 flights offered by Vietnam’s leading airlines, including national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines, budget carrier Vietjet Air, and newcomer Bamboo Airways.

Van Don is also the only Vietnamese airport that has carved out a spot among the top five airports offering the highest services quality in Vietnam Airlines worldwide operation network in the first quarter of 2019 by the Airport Performance Measurement Program (APMP) announced by Vietnam Airlines.

In pursuit of the strategy of launching new routes, particularly to potential international markets, Van Don Airport is conceiving diverse market promotion plans this year.

In early March, the first major promotion conference took place in Quang Ninh, attracting more than 60 airlines and over 100 travel firms who came there to seek opportunities to open new routes and tours to tap into the province’s abundant potential.

Numerous co-operation agreements were inked at the event. Van Don Airport is expected to help Quang Ninh to realize its bold target of welcoming 15-16 million visitors, including seven million international visitors by 2020, increasing to 30 million visitors by 2030, half of whom will be international visitors.

This will contribute to turning tourism into a spearhead sector in Quang Ninh, as well as turning Quang Ninh into an international tourism centre and a top travel destination in Vietnam, thus matching the province’s tourism development master plan to 2020, with vision towards 2030.

As a 4E-grade airport under International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards, Van Don International Airport can receive even the most state-of-the art aircraft. Its first-phase terminal capacity is 2.5 million passengers per year that could reach five million passengers per year by 2030 after expansion.

Thanh Van