Korean Air has commenced direct flights between Incheon International Airport in the South Korean city of Seoul and Vietnam’s central coastal city of Danang, which is the airline’s third destination in Vietnam.
Korean Air uses its Boeing B737-800 aircraft configured with some 145 seats for the two weekly flights to Danang on Thursdays and Sundays.
The Seoul-Danang service has brought Korean Air’s number of weekly flights to Vietnam to nearly 20, including 11 for Tan Son Nhat International Airport in HCMC and seven for Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi.
Korean Air is the second Korean operator of direct Seoul-Danang flights. In mid-December, the maiden flight of Asiana Airlines with some 160 passengers aboard touched down the runway of Danang International Airport.
Asiana Airlines also operates bi-weekly flights between the Incheon International Airport and the Danang International Airport on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Currently, Asiana Airlines also offer daily services from South Korea to HCMC and Hanoi, and vice versa.
In addition to Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, AirAsia of Malaysia and Silk Air of Singapore also service Danang. Vietnam Airlines offers chartered flights to Danang from foreign airports, including those in Korea.
Korea was Vietnam’s second largest visitor-generating market last year after China. Figures of the General Statistics Office showed Vietnam attracted more than 536,000 Korean visitors in 2011, up 8.2% year-on-year.
Last year saw the number of international visitors to Vietnam grew 19.1% compared to the year before to more than six million.
In 2011, Danang welcomed more than 2.35 million visitors, a whopping increase of 32.8% over 2010.