Lao Airlines inaugurates Da Nang flight National flag carrier Lao Airlines will launch a new flight to Da Nang

this week, aiming to establish a new transport link between southern/central Laos and Vietnam . The airline will inaugurate the service today by flying a group of Lao tour operators, hoteliers and journalists from Vientiane to Da Nang . This will see the start of flights between Pakxe district in Champassak province and Kaysone Phomvihane district in Savannaket province to Da Nang in central Vietnam . Today's trip aims to promote tourism cooperation between Laos and Vietnam , especially boosting tourism in the central regions of the neighbouring nations. According to Lao Airlines, a 65-seat ATR-72 will leave Pakxe at 9.30am and touch down at Savannakhet at 10.10am before arriving in Da Nang at 11.40am every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The return flight will leave Da Nang for Savannakhet at 2.10pm on these days. Lao Airlines' Planning and Cooperation Department Director Mr Noudeng Chanthaphasouk said the airline decided to open the new sector to Da Nang , a major seaport in Vietnam , after carrying out a marketing survey. He said the airline's top management visited Da Nang earlier this year after receiving a request from Champassak and Savannakhet authorities to open the service, to enable Vietnamese tourists and business operators to travel between the two cities. We expect 50 to 60 percent of seats to be booked on each flight to start with and that the number of passengers will increase in the future, Mr Noudeng said. At present two buses make the journey each day from Savannakhet and Champassak to Da Nang . He said the airline would base an aircraft in Pakxe to service the new sector. Lao Airlines operates daily flights from Vientiane to Hanoi and three flights a week from Pakxe to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam . Mr Noudeng said the increasing number of passengers in this region was the result of growing Vietnamese investment in central and southern areas of Laos . According to a report from the Ministry of Planning and Investment, most Vietnamese investment is in projects located in eight provinces of central and southern Laos . The report stated that, as of December 2011, the Lao government had approved 207 investment projects with total registered capital of US$3.4 billion. A total of 113 projects worth US$1.55 billion have been undertaken in central Laos , which is equivalent to 45.5 percent of the total value of Vietnamese investment in Laos . Some 30.5 percent of this investment is in real estate and service projects worth US$1.04 billion. Another 15.3 percent worth US$521 million has been invested in 33 agriculture and forestry development projects, and 27 percent worth US$921 million has been put into four hydropower projects, with the balance invested in other sectors. The government has offered special tariff reductions for Vietnam as part of measures to boost the country's investment in Laos . Page 1

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