All transport services by land, water and air linking Da Nang with other destinations across Viet Nam have resumed operations from 7 September following approval by Vietnamese Ministry of Transport as the coronavirus has successfully been put under control in the city. Also, the restrictions on seat distancing adopted for all forms of transport have recently been lifted. In spite of these encouraging conditions, passenger transport services from / to Da Nang have yet to fully rebound due to its previous ‘long hibernation’ sparked by the adverse impacts of the virus resurgence

A scene of the check-in counter of low-cost carrier Vietjet Air in the Da Nang International Airport

Over the past week, bustling ambiance has yet to resume at passenger terminals of the Da Nang International Airport.

The national flag carrier Vietnam Airlines is increasing the frequency of flights connecting Da Nang and the Vietnamese big cities of Ha Noi and HCM City in a bid to serve increasing travel demand of people following the relaxation of restrictions in Da Nang after the city moved to a lower alert level. Starting from 16 September until the end of the month, its daily round trips from Ha Noi to Da Nang will increase to four a day and from HCM City to five. The flight schedule for October will be announced later depending on the pandemic situation, Vietnam Airlines said in a statement.

In a similar vein,Viet Nam's private budget carrier Vietjet Air has increased its services on Da Nang- Ho Chi Minh City route to 4 daily round-trip flights, and on Da Nang-Ha Noi route with 3 daily flights, starting from 13 September. The carrier has planned to increase the number of flights on the two routes to 7 and 10 respectively from early October.

The low-cost airlines has also resumed some domestic routes connecting Da Nang with other nationwide locations. In detail, the carrier operates one daily round-trip flight between Da Nang and Hai Phong City, and 5 round-trip flights weekly between Da Nang and Da Lat City. Also, it offers 4 round-trip flights per week between Da Nang and Buon Ma Thuot, Can Tho and Nha Trang.

In reality, the proportion of vacant seats on these flights has been still high over recent days. Pham Le Huy, who took on a Da Nang-bound flight operated by Vietnam Airlines on Tuesday said, only approximately two-thirds of the available seats were occupied. 

Pham Dang Dat, the driver of the city-based Mai Linh taxi company complained, over recent days, his daily passenger numbers have been plunged by half as compared with pre-pandemic time.

With regard to passenger transport services by rail, the pairs of daily train services SE1/2, SE3/4 and SE7/8 running between Ha Noi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), which run through Da Nang on their journeys to pick-up or drop-off passengers, have had their operations fully resumed after their over one-month suspension due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

However, only several hundreds of tickets for rail trips to other localities nationwide are sold each day, far fewer than normal, Head of the Da Nang Railway Station Nguyen Nhan said. On Tuesday, for instance, the number of passengers recorded at the Da Nang Railway Station was quite small.

According to Mr Pham Loi, the General Director of Da Nang Bus Station Transport and Management Joint Stock Company, many inter-provincial passenger transport services have resumed their operations. Nevertheless, the passenger numbers has been still quite modest in recent days. According to recent calculations, the passenger numbers recorded on inter-provincial routes have reduced by 50-60% against normal days.

Still discouragingly, low passenger numbers have been reported in taxi, Grab, intra-bus/inter-provincial bus services.

From now until late this year, many domestic tourists may be reluctant to visit Da Nang on fears over the possibility of virus resurgence in the city. Meanwhile, Da Nang’s citizens are only permitted to enter some other cities and provinces nationwide as long as they test negative for coronavirus. In some cases, they must go through the quarantine period for 14 days upon their arrivals in these localities. Regarding these issues, the Da Nang leaders have already asked for permission from the Prime Minister to charge coronavirus testing fees on these persons.

Previously, the Da Nang government had urged other localities to create the most possible favourable conditions for travel demand from Da Nang’s citizens, thereby helping the city realise its dual goal of eliminating coronavirus and driving the city's economic recovery after Covid-19.

Viet Nam’s planned resumption of selected international flights on 15 September has been pushed back to an unconfirmed date as authorities continue to work on Covid-19 prevention measures.

By THANH LAN – Translated by A.T