The budget carrier Viva Macau on February 13 officially opened a direct air route to Hanoi with its first flight departing from the Macau Special Administrative Region.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Vietnamese Consul General in Hong Kong and Macau Pham Cao Phong stressed that the air route will help strengthen bilateral exchanges on trade, investment and tourism.

He said he hoped that with the new route, tourism will be an area of strong development between Vietnam and Macau in the years to come.

A Viva Macau representative said that after the success of its Macau-Ho Chi Minh City route, the airline decided to expand its operations in Vietnam with a direct route to Hanoi.

In the first stage, the low-cost carrier will run three flights weekly on every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday on the route.

At present, around 6,000 Vietnamese labourers are working in Macau, a famous tourist site in Asia with a number of arrivals reaching tens of millions per year.