Vietnamese carrier Bamboo Airways launched its Hanoi-Ca Mau route on Saturday, marking the country’s first-ever air service linking the capital with the southernmost province.
Prior to the Bamboo Airways route, those who wanted to travel from Hanoi to the southernmost province of Ca Mau had to fly to either Ho Chi Minh City or the Mekong city of Can Tho and then continued by car, bus, or boat. To date, train services are not available in the Mekong Delta as the operational North-South railway system ends in HCMC.
With a distance of more than 1,900 kilometers, the Hanoi-Ca Mau flight service is one of the longest domestic routes. Ca Mau Airport, like the two airports of Dien Bien and Con Dao in Dien Bien province in the north and on Con Dao Island in the south, has a short runway, able to handle smaller aircraft like ATR-72 and ones of similar size.
Prior to the new service, Ca Mau Airport served only flights by Vietnam Airlines subsidiary Vasco which operates ATR-72 planes for passengers and cargo with five weekly flights. In addition, the airport handled one or two chartered flights a year from another province or city.
Bamboo Airways now operates three weekly two-way flights, using Embraer jets, which finish the trip in more than two hours. The carrier is in a position to increase this frequency when needed.
Ca Mau Airport, designed to serve 200,000 passengers annually, now receives about 35,000-40,000 per annum, according to provincial data.
Ca Mau Chairman Huynh Quoc Viet said the new air service will give his province a boost for further growth, bringing about more opportunities for investors and for the tourism sector.
The southernmost province is home to two famous national parks, Ca Mau Cape and U Minh Ha, both internationally recognized as Ramsar sites, which are wetland sites designated to be of international importance under the Ramsar Convention, also known as "The Convention on Wetlands".
The province also houses 12 national and 32 provincial relic sites, together with 40 intangible cultural heritage assets.
The Hanoi-Ca Mau service marks Bamboo Airways’ presence at all 22 domestic airports. Starting operations in January 2019, the carrier has a fleet of 30 aircraft. For overseas services, it flies 14 routes connecting Southeast Asia, North Asia, Australia, and Europe. In this year’s second half, the company plans to launch more services to China and increase the frequency in the Northeast Asian market.
In a related development, Vietnam’s budget carrier VietJet launched Tuesday its air service connecting Can Tho in the Mekong Delta and Quang Ninh on the Vietnam-China border, opening up more opportunities for tourism and trade.
VietJet operates two return flights per week, Tuesdays and Saturdays, on the new route. It takes two hours and 20 minutes to finish one way.
Can Tho city serves as the Mekong Delta’s hub, offering river landscapes, traditional floating markets, fruit gardens, and other large agricultural areas. Quang Ninh is the key economic region of the northeast, home to the world-renowned natural heritage site Halong Bay.
The new air link makes it easier for the transportation of goods, farm produce, and fresh seafood from the Mekong Delta to Van Don town and Mong Cai border gate in Quang Ninh, and vice versa.