U.S. and Vietnam discuss flight pact

U.S. and Vietnam discuss flight pact

HANOI (AFP): Vietnam and the United States will begin hammering out a bilateral aviation accord today that would pave the way for direct flights between the two countries.

However, U.S. airline executives say that nonstop flights between the two countries were still a long way off given the small size of the market.

"Unless these bilaterals produce an environment which makes it economically viable in the short term, I don't know that any U.S. carrier will do it," said Don Curran, United Airlines Pacific South vice president.

Curran said a likely first step would be code sharing agreements between U.S. carriers and their partners in the region. For example, a U.S. carrier could carry passengers say, to Japan on its own flight and then book seats on a Japanese airline which already flies to Vietnam.