Viva Macau launches direct service to HCMC
Viva Macau's maiden flight to HCMC landed at Tan Son Nhat International Airport on Wednesday, marking the beginning of its direct service between the two cities.
Ngo My Hang, managing director of Holiday Tours and Travel, the general sales agent of Viva Macau in Vietnam, said she did not have the exact number of passengers on the arrival flight but revealed bookings had exceeded 140 on the return flight.
Viva Macau aircraft with Economy and Premium-class configuration arrives at Tan Son Nhat at 11:45 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and 9:25 a.m. on Sundays. Departure times are scheduled at 1 p.m. and 10:40 a.m. respectively.
The low-fared carrier uses the wide-body Boeing B767 aircraft for Macau-HCMC service that takes about two hours and a half.
Top promote bookings for the new service, Viva Macau offers a single trip from US$82, exclusive of tax and surcharges.
The new service of Viva Macau is expected to offer leisure and business travelers from Vietnam another choice to visit Macau, also known as "Las Vegas of the East", according to the carrier's chief executive officer Con Korfiatis.
Korfiatis said HCMC was as a major market for Viva Macau to begin. He added the airline also worked with the website at macau-com and its Vietnamese general sales agent Holiday Tours and Travel to design competitively-priced packages for Vietnamese travelers.
Korfiatis said he expected more Vietnamese people, would visit Macau after the flight launch and given the only direct air link to Macau, the not-long flight duration, and visa grant upon arrival at the airport.
Korfiatis said Vietnam was holding potential for inbound and outbound services as it had become an increasingly popular destination and that more Vietnamese were able to go on holiday abroad. He forecast the number of Vietnamese travelers in Macau would grow strongly next year.
He said Viva Macau was looking to fly HCMC-Macau daily in the first quarter of next year rather than launch services to Hanoi or elsewhere in Vietnam.
Viva Macau commenced operations in December 2006 but has since grown its long and short-haul flight network to Jakarta of Indonesia, Tokyo of Japan, Busan of Korea and Sydney of Australia. HCMC is the carrier's newest destination.
The Saigon Times - December 21, 2007.
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