Thua Thien-Hue to assist travel firms during airport shutdown

Vietnam Airlines will launch more flights to Danang during this period to meet the transport demand of tourists.

Ngo Hoa, vice chairman of Thua Thien-Hue, said when Phu Bai Airport was temporarily closed for runway repair, the province would send coaches from Hue to its neighboring city of Danang to pick up tourists. The province will soon inform travel firms of this plan, Hoa told the Daily on the sidelines of a meeting with the aviation authorities on Thursday.

Earlier, Vietnam Airlines Corporation sent a dispatch to the government of Thua Thien-Hoa, informing the province about a plan for shutdown of Phu Bai Airport. As planned, the airport will be closed in March 2013 for runway repair in 6-8 months.

Hoa said the provincial authorities had met a number of tour operators to discuss how to serve tourists during the shutdown of the airport.

At present, Phu Bai Airport receives three round-trip flights from HCMC and three others from Hanoi every day. On the peak days, there can be up to 3,000 tourists traveling from Hue to HCMC and Hanoi and vice versa.

“We will seek ways to further support enterprises so that they will not incur much loss and can maintain the growth rate of the tourism industry,” said Hoa.

Phu Bai Airport was once shut down for runway repair in May and June last year. Back then, travel firms were displeased at the local authorities for the airport shutdown upon short notice.

Thua Thien-Hue with the word’s heritage Hue Ancient Capital is one of the main destinations for tourists in the central region. The province last month welcomed nearly 2.2 million foreign and local tourist arrivals.