That is the response of the Ministry of Transport (MOT) to the proposal of voters of Ba Ria - Vung Tau province about measures to increase flights to facilitate people and tourists to Con Dao district.

Accordingly, voters in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province said that the demand for tourists to Con Dao district is increasing, especially during peak season, while it is very difficult for locals and tourists to access air tickets to Con Dao. The situation of ticket shortage, sold out tickets or having to buy tickets at prices many times higher than the listed price often occurs.

Therefore, voters recommend measures to increase flights to facilitate travel for residents and tourists. At the same time, it is necessary to control related activities as well as have support policies for Con Dao residents when buying tickets, especially in emergency cases.

Responding to this issue, the Ministry of Transport said that due to limited infrastructure, Con Dao Airport has not been able to receive large aircraft such as A320/A321, but can only receive aircraft such as ATR72, Embraer E190, so operations to Con Dao are somewhat limited.

After Bamboo Airways stopped operating the Hanoi - Con Dao route using Embraer aircraft to restructure, currently only Vietnam Airlines and VASCO (Vietnam Airlines Branch) are using ATR72 aircraft to operate the Con Dao - Ho Chi Minh City route with a frequency of 16 round trips/day; the Con Dao - Can Tho route with a frequency of 5 round trips/week.

According to the Ministry of Transport, this has reduced the number of tickets supplied on flights to/from Con Dao, especially during peak times such as festivals and tourist seasons, when demand exceeds supply, indirectly causing airfares to/from Con Dao to always remain high.

In fact, through checking the ticket sales activities of airlines, the Ministry of Transport recorded that airfares on flights to Con Dao comply with regulations on passenger transport price frames on domestic flights.

However, to improve operations at Con Dao airport, the Ministry of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam have created favorable conditions for Vietnam Airlines to increase operations. At the same time, they have requested Vietnam Airlines and other airlines to actively seek suitable aircraft and study and develop plans to operate flights to Con Dao.

This will contribute to increasing the supply capacity on flight routes, adding more choices of aviation services for passengers, contributing to solving the shortage of air tickets to/from Con Dao during some peak periods, better meeting the travel needs of the people.

Regarding the infrastructure at Con Dao airport, the Ministry of Transport said that Con Dao airport has a 1.8km long runway, so it can only accommodate small aircraft such as ATR72 and Embraer E190; to accommodate large aircraft such as A321, a 2.4km long runway is required.

If the Con Dao airport runway is extended to the east to reach 2.4km, the estimated investment cost is over 10,000 billion VND.

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