The first plane from the Republic of Korea to Quang Ninh landed at Van Don International Airport on June 6 morning, bringing 181 passengers to the northern coastal province.

Van Don International Airport (Source: VNA)

The charter flight, conducted by Vietnam Airlines, departed from Incheon airport at 21:30 on June 5 and arrived in Van Don airport at 1:45 on June 6.

All passengers on the flight were presented with free bus tickets and tickets to UNESCO-recognised Natural Heritage Ha Long Bay and Yen Tu special national relic site.

Earlier on May 27, the Van Don airport - Vietnam’s first private airport –welcomed the first international flight from Bao’an airport in China’s Shenzhen city.

The airport is scheduled to serve international air routes linking Van Don with Chinese Taiwan, China’s Hainan, Nanning and Guangzhou in June, and Japan and Thailand’s Bangkok later this year. 

Domestic air routes connecting the island district with the touristy destinations of Da Nang, Phu Quoc and Nha Trang are hoped to be launched in the third quarter of this year.

The Van Don International Airport was officially put into operation in December 2018. 

Since the beginning of this year, the airport has served nearly 700 flights with nearly 100,000 passengers on board.

It has become the first Vietnamese airport listed among the top five airports with the highest points for quality services in the first quarter of the year, according to a survey by the Airport Performance Measurement Programme.

The presence of the airport is expected to help Quang Ninh achieve its target of welcoming 15-16 million tourists, including 7 million foreigners, by 2020 and 30 million arrivals, including 15 million foreigners, by 2030.

Construction on Van Don International Airport started in 2015 on 288 ha in Doan Ket commune, in Van Don district. It is the first airport in Vietnam to operate under the build-operate-transfer (BOT) model.

The airport is expected to have an annual capacity of 2-2.5 million passengers by 2020, which will increase to 5 million by 2030.