Lao Airlines is starting new flights to Korea, China and Vietnam before the end of the year in response to a high demand for travel into Laos.
“The Korean and Chinese markets have been increasing this year,” said Saleum Tayarath, director of Lao Airlines’ commercial department.
The airline will begin three-times-weekly flights between Vientiane and the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou on November 29. The flight, using an A320 aircraft, will leave Vientiane on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at 1310 to arrive at 1610, with the return leg leaving 1710 and arriving 1810.
Tayarath said the airline expected the majority of the passengers using this route to be travelling for business. “There are a lot of Chinese investors coming to Laos now,” he said. “They are involved in construction, agriculture, and other industries.”
He said the airline had chosen Guangzhou because of its role as an important Chinese industrial centre.
It will also start three-times-weekly flights to Seoul Incheon from December 21. The flight, also using an A320, will leave Vientiane on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 2340 and arrive in Incheon the next day at 0640, with the return leg leaving the same morning at 0800.
A flight to Busan will be launched from December 30. This will leave on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday at 2340, arriving the next day at 0630 and then returning to Vientiane at 0800.
Tayarath said that Koreans were showing an increasing interest in flying to all South East Asian countries, both for business and tourism.
Lao Airlines also plans to start flights to Da Nang from November (see story here) and to increase frequency of its Singapore flights to four times weekly (see story here).
For more information, visit www.laoairlines.com
Nicholas Olczak
