Passengers in a queue for check-in and boarding on the inaugural flight on HCM City-Taipei route. — VNS Phto

TAIPEI (Biz Hub) — Last Friday, VietJet officially launched its debut flight connecting Viet Nam's economic hub of HCM City and Taipei, Taiwan.

During the event, representatives from VietJet said the airline would continue to expand its flight network by adding flights from HCM City and Ha Noi to Kaohsiung and Taichung in the near future, offering more options for passengers.

Desmond Lin, VietJet business development director, said VietJet would run a special flight on March 20, 2015 as part of an initiative called "Spread the Love" for residents with Viet Nam and Taiwan nationalities in Taiwan, as well as Taiwanese residing in Viet Nam.

For this flight, customers would receive a 100 per-cent discount on one leg and 50 per-cent discount on the return leg when flying between Taipei and HCM City.

"With a large Taiwanese community in Vietnam and a growing Vietnamese community in Taiwan, we hope we can reconnect families and friends, while also encouraging further trade and tourism growth between these two amazing countries," Lin said.

Registration for this programme began December 12, 2014 and ends on January, 15, 2015 via www.vietjetair.com.

The new route will initially operate five round trip flights per week, on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday, with a flight duration of three hours and 25 minutes per leg.

On scheduled flight days, VietJet will depart from HCM City at 2.30pm,Viet Nam time, and arrive in Taipei at 6.55pm, Taiwan time. Traveling in the opposite direction, a flight will take off from Taipei at 8pm, Taiwan time, arriving in HCM City at 10.25pm, Viet Nam time. -VNS