As the number of visitors to Vietnam’s largest island, Phu Quoc, is skyrocketing, domestic airlines have competed to increase the flights, or resume or launch new air route to this island.
The total number of flights to Phu Quoc airport has reached about 40 flights a day.
The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has granted transportation rights to 5 routes to and from Phu Quoc and vice versa of Vietjet Air. These are flights from Phu Bai Airport (Thua Thien – Hue Province), Chu Lai Airport (Quang Nam Province), Dong Hoi Airport (Quang Binh Province), Quy Nhon Airport (Binh Dinh Province) and Van Don Airport (Quang Ninh Province) to/from Phu Quoc Airport (Kien Giang Province) and vice versa.
Visitors at Phu Quoc Airport. Photo: Minh Man
Earlier, Vietjet Air announced the opening of a number of air routes from Da Nang, Thanh Hoa, Nha Trang, Da Lat and Vinh to Phu Quoc, operating from March 28, April 2 and April 29. At the same time, this carrier has increased the capacity of air routes from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong to Phu Quoc.
With the five new air routes, Vietjet Air will operate a total of 13 domestic routes to Phu Quoc.
At the same time, Vietnam Airlines has said that it will resume four air routes from Hai Phong, Da Lat, Vinh, and Da Nang to and from Phu Quoc from April 23 and increase the number of seats and flights to serve tourist during the upcoming summer.
Accordingly, the round-trip flights between Hai Phong, Da Lat, Vinh and Phu Quoc will increase from four to seven as of June 1, 2021. The Da Nang - Phu Quoc route will also have four round trips per week.
Meanwhile, Bamboo Airways has flights from Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Thanh Hoa, Can Tho and Vinh to Phu Quoc and vice versa.
The "rookie" of the local aviation market - Vietravel Airlines - operates flights from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc.
After the Covid-19 pandemic is under control, local tourists have rushed to Phu Quoc. This is the hottest destination in the country since the beginning of the year. With nice weather, discount air tickets, reasonable hotel room fare, the island is very attractive to tourists.
In the first two months of this year, Phu Quoc welcomed 656,000 visitors, accounting for 75-80% of the total number of visitors to Kien Giang province. The figure is still 44.5% down over the same period of 2020 but it is in the increasing trend. The number of visitors to Phu Quoc began rising sharply since March.
This year, Kien Giang province aims to welcome 7 million visitors, 34% up year on year; to earn tourism revenue of more than VND11.5 trillion, up 46.2%.
Ms. Lam Thi Diem Tram, Director of Phu Quoc Island Tourism and Events Co., Ltd., said that on average, this company has 2,000 to 4,000 visitors per month. The number doubles for the upcoming holiday (April 30 and May 1).
In April, flights from Hanoi anf Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc ran out of tickets, so travel firms have asked airlines to increase flights to Phu Quoc, Lam said.
Ng. Ha