Arriving in Da Nang, Mrs. Wood's family, an Australian, is surprised to be greeted at the airport.
At 11:05 on March 27, the first international commercial flight returned to Da Nang after nearly 2 years, since the outbreak of Covid-19 in early April 2020.
Mr. Wood's family is welcomed at the arrival gate of Da Nang International Passenger Terminal. Photo: Nguyen Dong
The plane landed, 160 passengers were surprised with a water cannon welcome. Down the stairs, they were greeted with flowers by the city representative.
Taking a few minutes to complete the prescribed medical procedures, Mrs. Wood brought her twin son to the station, while the husband moved the luggage. At the door, the mother who had traveled to Vietnam many times stopped when she saw her children enjoying the lion dance performance. She waved to everyone and received applause from many Da Nang people.
"I am very happy to return to Da Nang after two years of the epidemic," she said. Her family booked a room at a seaside resort to stay for many days. "We will walk in Da Nang and Hoi An ancient town, swim in the sea and enjoy a lot of delicious food," she added.
Mr. Ben, a Spanish national, first came to Da Nang with a friend. Everything on the trip was "very easy," he said. The couple plans to stay in the city for three days, then go to Hue to explore the monuments.
Overseas Vietnamese Nguyen Van Hung flew from the Netherlands, transited in Singapore and then returned to Da Nang. He was happy when the city reopened. "We are abroad, but we really want to be able to return to our homeland to visit our family every year," he said, this time he will stay in Vietnam longer than before.
Mr. Tran Phuoc Son, Vice Chairman of Da Nang City People's Committee (left cover), pressed the button at the event to reopen Da Nang international routes, on the morning of March 27. Photo: Nguyen Dong
Speaking at the event to welcome the reopening of international routes, Mr. Tran Phuoc Son, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Da Nang City, said that 2 years have been heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, flight routes Due to the international disruption, the aviation and tourism industries face a huge challenge to stay afloat.
Before the epidemic occurred, Da Nang International Airport had an annual growth rate of about 18-34% in the period 2015-2019. In 2019, the port served more than 98,000 flights with more than 7.1 million international passengers and 8.4 million domestic passengers. However, the epidemic in the past 2 years caused the exploitation volume to decrease by more than 80%, the revenue by more than 70% compared to the same period in 2019.
"Today's international flight restoration event is not only the return of Vietnam Airlines. international flights, but also marks a more positive development phase to gradually fully restore international routes to Da Nang", Mr. Son said, saying the city's leaders are committed to continuing to remove difficulties and obstacles to restore tourism - aviation activities under new normal conditions.
Phan Kieu Hung, Deputy Director of Da Nang International Airport, also said that the reopening of international routes will strongly promote tourism, investment and culture between countries, towards the growth goal. sustainable economy.
During the day, Da Nang welcomes two international flights. In addition to the flight SQ172 kicking off the Singapore - Da Nang regular route, with a frequency of one flight per day, the city also resumed the route to Bangkok, with a flight carrying 150 passengers. This route has a frequency of 3 flights per week and can be adjusted depending on market demand.
Vietnam stopped all commercial flights with countries and territories around the world from the beginning of April 2020, when Covid broke out. From February 15, international regular routes have been fully reopened. Passengers entering by air need to have a negative certificate before departure, by PCR test within 72 hours, by rapid test 24 hours.
