Bac Giang Province's signature fruit lychees returned to serve as in-flight meals on Vietnam Airlines (VNA) flights after a two-year pandemic, said the national flag carrier.

According to Vietnam Airlines, the fruit is served to business class passengers on domestic and international routes from July 1-15.

The move aims to introduce the speciality to domestic and foreign passengers and expand cooperation with businesses and localities to promote Vietnamese agricultural products to the world, said VNA.

Since June 24, the airline has coordinated with Bac Giang Province to promote lychees on the e-commerce platform VNAMall.

Vice Chairman of the Bac Giang People’s Committee, Phan The Tuan, said: “The province is home to the country’s largest lychee-growing area of more than 28,000ha. Bac Giang lychee was the first Vietnamese product to be granted PGIC in Japan and is eligible for trademark protection in eight countries.”

“Bac Giang has 15,400ha of VietGAP lychee plantations, equivalent to an annual output of 125,000 tonnes, and 102ha of GlobalGAP plantations, equivalent to over 1,000 tonnes.”

The vice chairman also noted that the provincial lychee was now available in over 30 countries.

He said the province would continue to boost exports to high-end markets and try to enter new markets, including Canada and Thailand. ­

The VNA said it prioritised the source of lychee products, creating a separate service channel for lychees to shorten the time from receipt to delivery while ensuring service quality, adding the aviation logistics solutions have greatly facilitated lychee consumption in Viet Nam. — VNS