State agencies of Vietnam and their Lao and Cambodian counterparts have recently reached a deal enabling Vietnam to open a one-way air route from north to south by June 2015.

Accordingly, the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV), the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Defense of Vietnam and Laos and Cambodian authorities have agreed to deploy direct flights from Tan Son Nhat - Noi Bai on June 25, 2015, said Lai Xuan Thanh, head of CAAV.

Earlier, on October 11 and 12, CAAV held a conference on the preparation for the launch of a direct air route in the central city of Da Nang with the participation of aviation authorities and businesses from the three countries, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

All the parties attended the meeting has agreed to set up a direct route in two phases.

While the first will establish a direct air route from Tan Son Nhat to Noi Bai airports, the second one will set up another direct air route, which is parallel to the first one, from Noi Bai to Tan Son Nhat airports.

The participants also agreed to allocate flight level of F350 at the altitude of 10,650 meters (35,000 feet) for Tan Son Nhat - Noi Bai air route in Phase 1, as this is the optimum flight level for best fuel saving. The flight level has many advantages over the flight level FL240 to FL28, at 7,300m to 8,550m altitude, that Laos allows Vietnamese aircraft to fly currently.

Regarding the recommendation of 50 percent reduction of transit fees for Vietnam when its air planes fly over Laos and Cambodia, the Lao and Cambodian aviation authorities said they are waiting for the decision from their governments, Thanh added.

Along with negotiating with authorities of Laos and Cambodia for final agreement of specific parameters of the direct flights, CAAV will work with the Asia - Pacific office of the Organization International Civil Aviation (ICAO) to soon announce and put into use the direct air route using the airspace of Laos and Cambodia.

Earlier last month, CAAV, Vietnam Airlines and VietJet Air jointly launched simulated flight between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. The result showed that the direct air route helped save 5 minute and 190 kg fuel as the proposed route is 85km shorter than the current one.

In July, CAAV announced that a one-way airway from north to south is scheduled to open by June 2015 to increase safety and save time and fuel costs for Vietnamese airlines

The one-way air route from north to south, which will enable aircrafts to travel to and return from a destination on two separate airways, will help save time for passengers and fuel costs for the air carriers, according to CAAV.

Vietnam currently only has two-way air routes, forcing airplanes to fly on different latitudes on the same routes to avoid collisions, according to the CAAV.

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