Addressing the event, Prime Minister Pham, who is on a four-day official visit to South Korea, highlighted the new milestone for the aviation sector of the two countries and the close ties between Viet Nam and South Korea.

On economic front, South Korea is the largest source of foreign direct investment in Viet Nam with US$87 billion and the third trade partner of the Southeast Asian nation with the two-way trade hitting US$76 billion in 2023.

Especially, South Korea emerged as the biggest tourist source market of Viet Nam. In the first five months of 2024, the number of tourists traveled by air between the two countries reached 2.2 million, representing an increase of 9 percent in comparison with that in 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

Around 280,000 Vietnamese nationals are living in South Korea. On the other hand, 200,000 Korean people are residing in Viet Nam.

The airline currently serves six direct routes, from Ha Noi and HCM City to Seoul and Busan; Da Nang and Cam Ranh to Seoul, with an average frequency of 112 flights per week.

Over the past three decades, Vietnam Airlines has operated 65,000 flights with 15 million passengers and 291,300 tons of cargo between Viet Nam and South Korea.

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual growth rate in passenger numbers reached 26 percent with a total of about 1.3 million passengers in 2019.

Despite the unprecedented impacts of the pandemic, the airline's operation returned to pre-pandemic levels and witnessed major leaps in 2023 as shown by 562,000 passengers transported in the five months of 2024.

As part of the Prime Minister’s visit, Vietnam Airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Korean Air and travel companies in South Korea.

Under the agreement, both sides will promote bilateral investment and tourism, further complementing the strengths in advertising, marketing, and the creation of aviation products and services./.