Low cost carrier AirAsia announced a new daily flight between Ho Chi Minh City and the Thai beach destination of Phu Ket today, the airline’s first direct flight between the two destinations.

Bijleveld said Vietnamese tourists were among the top international arrivals to Thai destinations, including Bangkok and Phuket. The beach enclave-turned tourist center attracted 4 million travelers last year.

The CEO said the airline’s flights from Bangkok to HCMC and Hanoi enjoyed high occupancy of 85 and 78 percent on average, respectively.

He told Thanh Nien that AirAsia – which operates mainly in Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand - would open addition flights between Bangkok and HCMC in two months. Those flights would be scheduled four times a week, he said.

Last month, Indonesia AirAsia opened a route between HCMC and Jakarta while Malaysia AirAsia operates two routes from Kuala Lumpur to Hanoi and HCMC.

Reported by Minh Quang