Community
22 September, 2023
Good morning, Vietnam
A DIRECT flight path between Vietnam and Cairns has received a big boost following a high level meeting in Canberra.
Mayor Bob Manning has returned from a VIP function hosted by Vietnam’s ambassador in the nation’s capital where aviation and tourism links between the two destinations were discussed.
While Cairns Airport also has had talks with Vietnamese airlines – and cautions it’s a long term proposal – Cr Manning believes Cairns is in the captain’s seat because the Asian country owns the flag carrier Vietnam Airlines.
Cr Manning and chief executive Mica Martin were invited to an event hosted by the Vietnamese ambassador in Canberra to mark 50 years of diplomatic relations between the Asian country and Australia.
Cr Manning said the invitation followed ambassador Nguyen Tat Thanh’s visit to Cairns about six months ago.
He told last week’s council meeting that the ambassador took a shine to Cairns during the visit.
“We talked about aviation, airport access. It (Vietnam) is an emerging country, I think we are on the right track,” Cr Manning said.
“I’ve mentioned it to Mark Olsen at Tourism Tropical North Queensland that with a population of 100 million there was a real opportunity for the future for traffic between Australia and Vietnam.”
Cr Manning later told Cairns Local News he was met at the door of the function by a Vietnamese representative who took him straight to Mr Thanh and they met three or four times during the event to discuss tourism and aviation links between the Far North and Vietnam.
Cr Manning said the door had been opened to establishing services between Cairns and Vietnam. Vietnam Airlines and Pacific Airlines are majority-owned by the Vietnamese Government.
“I would suspect the airlines are government-owned which makes it more feasible. We should be keeping a close eye on Vietnam,” Cr Manning said
He said Vietnam had a thriving tourism market as well as a growing middle-class keen to travel.
Cr Manning said there were plenty of Australians wanting to travel to Vietnam and vice-versa.
“A very cordial relationship (between Cairns and Vietnam) seems to be forming,” he said.
Cairns Airport chief executive Richard Barker said Vietnam was an emerging market and it was a destination that Australians loved to visit.
“We believe Cairns and Tropical North Queensland is a region that would resonate with the Vietnamese, and there has been dialogue with Vietnamese carriers,” he said.
“Like most airlines, they are still recovering to pre-COVID levels in the first instance and any opportunity is unlikely in the short term.”
Mr Olsen said the airport was in discussions about a route between Cairns and Vietnam.
He said there were many Australians travelling to Vietnam through other airports as well as an increasing middle class in the Asian country wanting to travel to destinations such as Cairns.
However, Mr Olsen said it would depend upon the business case developed by an airline.
A good case study was the number of youth travellers on their around-the-world trip who were coming into Cairns from Bali on Jetstar flights, he said.
Cairns was also used for a lot of outbound travel by intrastate residents. The Vietnamese embassy and Vietnam Airlines were contacted for comment.
