Qatar Airways will launch the first-ever direct service with four flights a week from Vietnam to Qatar on March 26. The new service linking Vietnam's southern Ho Chi Minh City and Doha, the capital of Qatar, is expected to boost economic cooperation and tourism between the two countries, the local newspaper Vietnam News reported Thursday.

 

The flights will run on Monday, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, costing at least US$890 round trip, said chief representative of Qatar Airways in the Vietnamese city Ajith Weerasekera.

 

The airline also flies from Ho Chi Minh City to 15 destinations in Europe, with economy tickets priced at least 700 dollars, plus 135-dollar tax. These flights stop in Doha.

 

Qatar Airways' 52 aircraft travel to 72 destinations in Europe, the Far East, the Middle East, Africa and India.

 

(Xinhua News Agency March 16, 2007)