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.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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