Seaplane tours to Ha Long serve 3,500 passengers in a year

Hai Au Airlines, a private air carrier, has offered seaplane tours between Ha Noi and Ha Long Bay in Quang Ninh province to more than 3,500 domestic and foreign passengers since the service debuted in October last year.

The service, the first of its kind in Viet Nam, has given passengers a birds-eye view of the majestic bay and World Natural Heritage Site, where thousands of limestone karsts jut up from the green waters, Deputy Chief Executive Officer Dinh Thu Trang said.

The trip costs each passenger 275 USD, or about 6 million VND, for a 30-minute one-way flight from Ha Noi to Ha Long Bay. It normally takes a three to four hour road trip to get there.

A 25-minute Ha Long Bay tour is also offered at 275 USD per person per way while a one-hour flight with a scenic tour costs 385 USD per person per way. Passengers are served by an experienced crew and five-star services in Cessna Grand Caravan EX seaplanes.

The British daily Telegraph newspaper, US-based Forbes magazine, ABC Television and many travel sites have described the tour as a must-try experience.

Hai Au plans to open new sightseeing seaplane tours from Ha Noi to Trang An landscape complex in Ninh Binh province and from Trang An to Ha Long Bay in the coming time.

The airline expects to soon launch seaplane flight services in central and southern Viet Nam, for example central Quang Binh and Quang Nam provinces, Ho Chi Minh City and the Mekong Delta.