Vietnam's budget carrier plans take off

Jan 22, 2007, 12:00 GMT

   Hanoi - Hoping to compete with the low-cost carriers sweeping Asia, a Vietnamese airline has announced it will soon offer promotional tickets for little more than a dollar, media reports said Monday.

   Pacific Airlines will offer the cheap fares on flights between Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City. The company will also offer big discounts on international routes between Ho Chi Minh City and two cities in Taiwan.

   Restrictions, of course, do apply. The fares are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, and a limited number of the 1.20 dollar seats are being offered, according to the airline's general director, Luong Hoai Nam, who was quoted by the Thanh Nien online newspaper on Monday.

   A ticket salesperson, who did not wish to give her name, said that the tickets will be available February 13, which is the day that the airlines will begin selling E-tickets on-line.

   The current fare for a one-way ticket from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City on Pacific Airlines ranges between 65 and 75 dollars.

   Several budget carriers, including Tiger Airways and AirAsia, currently fly into Vietnam. But only the country's two national carriers, Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines, operate the domestic routes.

   According to local news reports, Pacific Airlines' move to become a budget carrier was done in part to prevent Asia's booming discount airlines from dominating Vietnam's internal market.

   By becoming a budget carrier, Pacific Airlines hopes to carry eight million passengers this year, twice the current number.