Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam’s international aviation market has gradually recovered in the first nine months with an increase in the number of foreign passengers, said the Vietnam Civil Aviation Authority (CAAV).

According to statistics, the period saw airports across the country welcoming 89 million passengers, including 23.7 million foreigners, up 20% and 266.8% year-on-year, respectively.

Vietnamese airlines transported 44.1 million passengers, an increase of 20.3% compared to the same period in 2022. Of the total volume, 11.5 million were foreigners, soaring by over 300% annually.

The international air transport market continues to maintain its recovery momentum for most traditional markets (excluding China and Russia) and records the presence of some new markets in Central Asia such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan, according to the CAAV. In addition, Vietnamese airlines have been expanding their operations on some routes to India and Australia.

Experts said the recovery of foreign passenger throughput is due to the open-door policies of countries, especially those in Northeast Asia.

Currently, there are 64 foreign airlines and five Vietnamese airlines offering over 169 international routes linking Vietnam to 28 countries, territories in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Among them, the top 10 international markets with the highest number of arrivals in Vietnam include the Republic of Korea, Thailand, Taiwan (China), Japan, China, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong (China), Australia, and India.

On the contrary, CAAV statistics showed a 15.3% decrease in local airports’ cargo throughput in the nine months, which totaled 887,500 tonnes. In particular, the volume of international cargo transported went down by 24% to 637,000 tonnes./.