From the 1st of june, Air Mekong started to exploit the direct flights HCM City - Quy Nhon. In preparation for the planned flights network expansion, the carrier has signed a series of credit contracts worth several million dollars to purchase aircraft and engines. General Director Pham Ngoc Minh said that the air transport safety must be on top priority. The purchase of new aircraft equipments is mainly to ensure flights quality.

A source of Vietnam Airlines revealed that a number of countries facing the crisis situation thus their equipments and machineries have been sold easily, so that the carrier took the opportunity to purchase for expansion plan of its flights snetwork.

Under the plan, in autumn this year 2011, Vietnam Airlines will open the direct flights from Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City to the United Kingdom, also, aim towards the number one market - United States. Vietnam Airlines currently has 36 domestic routes and 46 international ones.

Although joined the market not yet for a year, the private airline Air Mekong began to affirm their presence on specific local market. In just over 2 months, Air Mekong has announced the opening of four domestic flights, from Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City to Phu Quoc, Con Dao, Quy Nhon and Pleiku.

The Air Mekong's continuous opening of new routes is not out of the objective of increasing market share as soon as possible when the market is still open. Up to now Air Mekong has opened over 15 domestic flights... In its plan, the company set ambitious development that add 10 new aircraft in 2011, 14 aircraft in 2012, 18 aircraft in 2013 and another 20 aircraft in 2014.

Since early this year, Jetstar Pacific Airlines is the only airline not opening any new routes. However, during the peak it had restarted flights Hanoi - Nha Trang and been conducting for about 5 months. After the 29th of October 2011, it will have evaluated the effectiveness of this route to make the final decision on exploitation of this route. A representative of the Jetstar Pacific shared that to be a cheap operator, it must consider very carefully to ensure the expenses are always the lowest on fare market.

Vietnam Aviation Department predict, in 2011, the carriers will have got about 17.5 million passengers, increase 21% compared to 2010's. Thus, the new routes opening of the carriers are considered the first step in the market catch as demand for air travel is expected to thrive in the near future.

In addition to the expansion of the network of routes, the airlines also have continuously launched promotion policies, reduced fares.

Accordingly, every time of opening a new route, not only Vietnam Airlines but also Air Mekong the Private Company launched promotional tactics that reduce ticket prices from 30% to 50%. Even some time, the operator heavily discounted to 70% and applied for an accompany free flying. Jetstar Pacific maintains a policy to sell cheap tickets on the Friday every week. Besides, it also offers monthly quite a deal for travelers with flight schedule not very tight.