VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) - Lucky Air, a Chinese airline based out of Kunming Changshui International Airport, has launched flights from Kunming to the world heritage city of Luang Prabang and the Lao capital Vientiane.
The airline has scheduled two flights a week on Wednesdays and Sundays, departing from Kunming at 3:35pm and arriving at Luang Prabang International Airport at 4:30pm.
The return flight departs from Luang Prabang at 5:30pm and arrives at Kunming at 9:10pm, using the new and larger Airbus A320neo, with flights beginning on December 22.
Starting on December 23, flights depart from Kunming at 8pm and arrive at Wattay International Airport in Vientiane at 9pm.
The return leg departs from Vientiane at 10pm and arrives at Kunming at 1am the following day.
The flights are available from travel agents in Kunming. Passengers can subscribe to this service on Trip.com with prices starting at about 7,000 Thai baht, TRWeekly reported.
Lucky Air is a low-cost carrier based in Kunming, Yunnan province. It was established in 2004 and first introduced services between Dali and Kunming and Xishuangbanna and Kunming.
In recent years the airline has opened international routes to Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and Japan.
Foreign carriers that service Laos include AirAsia, Bangkok Airways, China Southern, China Eastern, Jin Air, Thai Airways, Vietnam Airlines and Scoot Airlines.
The number of international visitors has increased recently with more than 3.4 million people vacationing in Laos in the first nine months of this year, an increase of about 11 percent compared to last year.
The number of visitors from China soared by 26 percent, according to the Tourism Development Department, Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism.
The department has projected that more than 1 million Chinese visitors will come to Laos in 2019.
