Cathay Pacific sees big potential in VN market

Cathay Pacific Airways sees Vietnam as a promising market, based on the optimistic outlook for the country’s economic development, an executive of the airline has said.

Cathay Pacific General Director Cindy Lam stated this while granting an interview to the Sai Gon Giai Phong daily newspaper on April 19 about the airline’s future strategy.

Lam went on to say that Cathay Pacific has a long-term commitment to Vietnam and the airline will be more active in supporting the development of Vietnam’s aviation and tourism sectors.

The airline started to operate the Hong Kong-Da Nang route in the first week of March, which, she confirmed, was a great success. In terms of freight, Cathay Pacific started to schedule three flights a week on March 13.

Earlier this month, the airline launched its direct Hong Kong-Milan flight and announced that it would start operating a Hong Kong-Moscow route on July 13.

Passengers from Vietnam can fly to Milan and Moscow using the four-times-weekly Cathay Pacific service from Ho Chi Minh City and the three-times-weekly service operated by Dragonair in Hanoi.

The two new important routes by the airline proves its commitment to expanding its markets and its efforts to develop Hong Kong into the world’s leading hub.

The two new routes, which use Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, confirmed the airline’s presence in the European market as it now provides more choices for people to travel between Italy, Russia and Vietnam, as well as other countries in the Asia-Pacific region, she said.

Cathay Pacific began to operate in Vietnam in 1992 and its first flight departed from Ho Chi Minh City in January the same year.

It conducts 14 flights of its own and seven code-sharing ones with Vietnam Airlines from Ho Chi Minh City every week.

In Hanoi, Cathay Pacific’s subsidiary Dragonair conducts seven fights between Hanoi and Hong Kong and seven shared ones with Vietnam Airlines a week.

Tags: Cathay Pacific Airways, Vietnam aviation