The owner
of Vietnam Airlines booking agency on Tran
Hung Dao street, in Hanoi,
said that “the number of passengers who booked tickets for the flights from Osaka to Vietnam
increased sharply on March 16.”

“We issued
a lot of tickets for the flights on the air route. Some other air routes of
Vietnam Airlines, including the ones from Tokyo,
Nagoya and Fukuoka
to Vietnam
have also witnessed the same situation. Vietnamese people in Japan are trying to book the soonest possible
flights to Vietnam,”
he said.

Meanwhile,
Vietnam Airlines has announced the 50 percent reduction of the airfare for
Vietnamese passengers flying from Japan
to Vietnam.

The
preferential airfare of 430 dollars will be applied to the Vietnamese
passengers who fly from Tokyo, Osaka,
Nagoya and Fukuoka
to Hanoi or HCM City
on the days from March 16 to March 31, 2011.

Other
bookings agents in Hanoi also told VnExpress
that “more and more Vietnamese people have come to book tickets for their
relatives in Japan to take
flights to Vietnam.”

“Some
flights to Vietnam
have been full of passengers. Air tickets until March 20 have run out for some
air routes,” the owner of a booking agent said.

The national
flag air carrier Vietnam Airlines has reported that the number of passengers
has increased sharply. It has announced the plan to increase the loading
capacity for the flights from Tokyo to Hanoi by using big
aircrafts in the period from March 16 to March 20. Boeing 777 (309-324 seats)
will be used instead of A330 with 282 seats.

Vietnam
Airlines reported that all the four offices and its staff in Tokyo,
Osaka, Nagoya and
Fukuoka keep
normal operation. However, since many companies and tourism agents in Tokyo
have closed the doors and communication is interrupted, the airlines has
suggested passengers to book tickets right in Vietnam for their relatives in
Japan so as to avoid the overloading for the above said offices.

Vietnam
Airlines now has eight air routes from Hanoi/HCM City to four big Japanese
cities Tokyo, Osaka,
Nagoya and Fukuoka,
providing 46 flights a week.

Meanwhile,
representatives of a group of students in Tokyo,
who contacted VietNamNet, said that “Vietnam Airlines, through the Vietnamese
Embassy in Japan, informed the
group if they can gather 300 students who want to fly to Vietnam, the air carrier will send aircraft to Japan to pick
them up.”

C. V